Twelve Months
by Helen Pattskyn
Summary: Jack has known for a long time how much Ianto wants children of his own and where there’s a will... and a Time Lord... there's a way… a part of my over all AU'verse. YAY, COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1

**Twelve Months**

* * *

**Genre: Romance / Sci-Fi… **maybe a little angst, but nothing heavy. Lots of fluff and nearly ALL Jack and Ianto.  
No serious plot line, just lots of character interaction.

**Rating: T **– some minor harsh language… and let's face it Jack's in it, so that means there's going to be some sexual innuendo. He can't help himself. ;-)

**Synopsis: **Jack has known for a long time how much Ianto wants children of his own and where there's a will (and a Time Lord), there is a way…

**Timeline: **set shortly after Reunion… I wasn't going to post this just yet, but after a series of blucky rainy days, I ended up pretty much finishing it and patience just isn't one of my virtues…

Hopefully I'll have another chapter up on everything I've got going before the weekend (I've got partial chapters written)… I can't believe I have class tomorrow, the day before one the biggest cooking holidays in the United States!

* * *

**Chapter One: 4992**

* * *

"_Every tomorrow has two handles. We can take hold of it with the handle of anxiety or the handle of faith."_ Henry Ward Beecher

* * *

"Well, Mr. Jones, are you ready for your first look at humanity's future?" the Doctor's tone was entirely too light for the young Welshman's comfort.

Just the same, Ianto wouldn't be the one to bring up the last time he'd seen the future. Admittedly he'd seen it right in his own time, when the Daleks had hijacked the Earth. They had been taken to a place out of time… out of space… to the Medusa Cascade, this giant rift in time and space. Just the same, Ianto understood that the Daleks represented the future. One possible future, at any rate, for humanity.

They, like the Cybermen had been human once, or something very close to it. He knew what the future would have looked like if Davros and the Dalek Emperor had succeeded… if the Cybermen gained a foothold on Earth or any other planet ever again. He knew what the Toclophane really were… would be. Had been. Might never be.

Jack took his hand and gave it a tight squeeze, seeming to understand the anxiety he saw in the younger man's face. Ianto wasn't like him, he didn't get the adrenaline rush when he was charging into the unknown… running for his life from alien and monsters.

Ianto liked things to be organized. Tidy. Boxed up and categorized. He made to-do lists. Every night before he went to bed, he wrote a carefully thought out list of the things he needed to accomplish the next day. As he drank his coffee the next morning, he went back over his list and amended anything that sleeping on it had made him believe he needed to amend… then he re-wrote his list in the order in which he anticipated completing each task. He often included the steps he thought he might have to take in order to accomplish the things on his list. After all, he wasn't operating in a vacuum. If he wanted to make sure he had time to do the grocery shopping, he would have to stay on top of eight or nine other things through out the day.

Not everything got accomplished, of course. Family life interfered. Aliens invaded. The rift spit out strange technology that disrupted their lives.

Ianto was flexible. He wasn't stuck to his lists. He didn't become (overly) agitated when he was forced to go off track to attend to something unforeseeable, especially when that something was important. And he recognized that sneaking off for ice cream with Jack was just as important as dealing with invading Raxacoricofallapatarians, an unexpectedly unpleasant call from Jason's head master, or his own sudden urge to reorganize every drawer in the staff kitchen because he couldn't find something and had become infuriated with the state of disarray things could so quickly fall into.

Besides, anything that didn't get accomplished one day could easily be shifted to the next day's list – presuming it was still relevant. Family emergencies and invading aliens had a way of changing one's priorities. Very few things were carved into stone, even on Ianto's lists.

"Come on then," the Doctor coaxed. "This is going to be your home for the next year." His tone was softer as he opened up the TARDIS doors. "It's a lovely little planet… well… moon really. Planet itself is uninhabitable, at least by humans."

Swallowing back the last of his fears, Ianto picked up his suitcase. All Jack had was a duffle bag full of clothes, most of which wouldn't fit him in a couple of months anyway. The Welshman gave his partner a nervous little glance and stepped out into the brilliant sunlight with Jack just behind him; as soon as he was clear of the narrow TARDIS door, Jack took his hand again.

"What do you think?" he asked.

The young man blinked, shading his eyes. The Doctor had landed the TARDIS in what appeared to be a lightly wooded park, although the spot seemed well out of the way of foot traffic. Thankfully. Unlike Jack, he didn't like to make grand entrances. Even when he'd been trying to worm his way into Torchwood, he'd only been as dramatic as he had been to catch Jack's attention. And save him from that Weevil… how was he supposed to know Jack was immortal?

He looked up into the alien sky. "It's blue." There were little wisps of white clouds… it didn't look alien at all.

Jack smiled.

"And… the grass… it's green," the Welshman breathed. Over the tops of the trees, he could see the tallest buildings of the city, all glass and metal. "It looks like Cardiff."

"A little bit, yes," agreed Jack, his smile never wavering.

"There's the facility there," The Doctor pointed to a tall white building; there was a green crescent moon painted on the side of it. Jack had explained that that was the universal symbol for hospitals. The Doctor went on: "And you two have been secured lodging in that apartment building there," he pointed to a building on the opposite side of the park.

Ianto blinked. "It looks so much like home…" he continued to look around, waiting for the alien-ness to hit him. Finally… "What's that smell?"

"What smell?"

"Lavender… lemon…?"

"Oh. Probably those, I reckon," the Doctor pointed to a clump of bright yellow flowers.

"They're lovely… Cariad…?"

Jack just nodded. "Amberdeillias, I think. Doctor?"

The Time Lord shrugged. "No idea really."

"They're not poisonous are they?" asked Ianto. "Or man eating or something…?"

"Man eating daisies?" The Doctor queried in an incredulous tone.

Jack was laughing, "No, they're not poisonous or man eating, Sweetheart." He let go of Ianto's hand so the younger man could go have a closer look. To the Doctor's quizzical expression, he mouthed the word 'Krynoid'.

"Oh dear."

Jack just shrugged. It wasn't the worst thing they'd ever wrangled and all in all, the incident had been as close to uneventful as it got.

The Welshman looked up from the flowers when he felt Jack's arms around his waist. "You doing ok?" the older man asked softly into his ear. He pressed his lips to the back of his partner's neck.

Ianto smiled, "I think so." He wasn't sure it was the truth, but so far, so good. The sky was a comforting shade of blue and he hadn't been eaten by the local flora.

"Come on," Jack took his hand again. "Let's go get settled in…"

The walk to the apartment building took less than ten minutes; they passed by a pair of men with two small children. One of the men was pregnant. They greeted the trio with a friendly smile.

Ianto blinked. "They were human," he said quietly, after he was sure they'd passed well out of earshot.

"Most of the people around here are," the Doctor told him. "I thought you might feel a bit more at home that way."

"But there are aliens… I mean… in this era? Humans have made contact?" If the twenty first century was when it all was supposed to have changed…

"Humans have made contact all kinds species," Jack assured him. "Most of them friendly," he added, raising his eyebrows suggestively.

"Don't you go getting _too_ friendly, Captain," warned the Time Lord.

Jack shot him a wry grin; the expression he gave his partner was so much softer, however. "No worries there," he promised, pulling the younger man into a deep kiss, the kind that made it clear that Ianto was the centre of his world and had been for quite some time… not that he would have minded landing Sara in their bed before Gil came back into her life… or even the two of them now that Grissom seemed to be a permanent fixture… Gil wasn't bad looking for a man his age.

Ianto returned the kiss more ardently than usual. Jack understood.

"It's not too late to change your mind…"

The young man shook his head. "I'm just nervous about being away for so long." A whole year… Nine months for the pregnancy, three to 'settle in' whatever that was supposed to mean.

Jack had made Gwen stay home nearly that long. He was making her take desk duty for a full year after coming back to work from maternity leave, too.

Only now they were calling it family leave, because Jack insisted that the same conditions apply to his partner as well, once they returned. Ianto wondered if that wasn't Jack's real motivation for asking him if he wanted to have this baby… he'd been angling to get him out of the field for quite a while… _and what does it say about me that I jumped at the chance to do this?_ the Welshman wondered.

Being stuck in the Hub most of the time would leave the rest of the team incredibly short staffed… never mind that at one time Jack had done it with just Suzie, Tosh and Owen. Even with both he and Gwen on light duty, that still left Bobby, Wendy, Abby, Tim, Sara, Mickey and Jack in the field – and there was very little likelihood that any of them would be taking family leave in the foreseeable future. Which, Ianto realized, was an odd thing to be thinking, standing on a strange planet in the year 4992…

"I'll have you back in a week's time, promise," the Doctor was saying. "Cross my hearts," he added, used his finger to make a big X over each side of his chest. "No one in Cardiff will even have time to miss you."

Ianto flashed a shy smile wondering again when and how exactly his life had gotten so strange.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you!! **You all know how nervous I get when I post something new, right? This was something I wasn't going to write, honestly, it just sort of crept up on me…

I'll post more once I'm done making the sweet potato gnocci for Thursday… and do my homework for tomorrow (it's pretty easy, I just have to actually sit down and DO it. Blegh. I'm so glad this class is almost over.)

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**Chapter Two: Settling In Out of Time**

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"_For a moment of night we have a glimpse of ourselves and of our world islanded in a stream of stars - pilgrims of mortality, voyaging between horizons across the eternal seas of space and time"_

_Henry Beston_

* * *

Their quarters were spacious, simple. It was fully furnished with things that Ianto could clearly identify. Sofa...chairs...coffee table... lamps... in the bedroom there was a big double bed... dressers... the view from both the bedroom and living room windows was breathtaking. They were on the forty first floor of a sixty story building. It was one of three in the complex with the city sprawled out lazily around them. Ianto fell immediately in love with the apartment. They even had their own private little balcony...

Despite their invitation for the Doctor to hang around for a few days… at least have dinner with them… he declined, suggesting that Jack and Ianto had enough settling in to do on their own, they didn't need a 'third wheel' hanging about.

They had Martha's phone, if they needed him for anything they could call.

"We'll be fine," the Captain assured him as he walked the Doctor out; Ianto was in the bedroom unpacking. "He's just a little out of his element."

"I'm sure he'll be right as rain in a few days."

Jack glanced over his shoulder towards the bedroom wishing suddenly that he'd given more thought to how this was going to affect Ianto. All he had considered was the end result… how much he knew Ianto wanted his own children. How he would do anything to make the younger man happy, give him something that that much more closely resembled a normal life.

Maybe Ianto was right, there was no such thing…

The Doctor gave Jack a long appraising look. "Second thoughts, Captain?" he queried.

Jack stepped out into the hallway and hit the pressure plate on the wall behind him, causing the door to slide shut and ensuring that they wouldn't be overheard. "I never wanted to do this again," he admitted in a quiet tone, shoving his hands into his pockets. "I never wanted get pregnant … or get anybody _else_ pregnant." He didn't want to bury more children… "Being here… _**now**_**…**" he shrugged, but allowed himself to voice his fears, hoping that getting them out in the open would make him feel less afraid. "I know it's going to be almost fifty years before there's a Time Agency to worry about, but if anyone from my own time even suspects I'm in the neighbourhood…"

"I promise you, Jack, this is a quiet year. A quiet little corner of the galaxy. Nothing of any significance happens here… not now… pretty much never. I picked the most boring little world I could think of for you and Ianto."

Jack chuckled. He and the Doctor had discussed at length when and where the Time Lord was willing to take them. "All right. I'll stop worrying about it," he promised. "Thanks."

The Doctor fixed him with a stern look. "Are you sure you really want to do this? Because if you're not one hundred percent absolutely certain…"

Jack shook his head. "I would do _anything_ to make him happy, Doc."

"What about what makes you happy?"

He smiled. That was an easy one. "He makes me happy. And as anxious as I am about being so close to my own time, I get a whole year here with him without having to worry about alien threats or 'rift gifts.' That makes me very happy."

"All right. If there's anything you need, you call me, Jack. I mean that. I'll be here."

"I know. And I will. We'll be fine. Like you said, he'll be right as rain in a few days," it was difficult to tell which one of them he was really trying to convince.

The Time Lord nodded and took his leave, hoping he had done the right thing by agreeing to bring them here… maybe he would drop back in on them in a couple of months, just to set his mind to rest that all was well… Ianto would adjust. After all, he was married to Jack… that had to mean he was… flexible… to say the least…

Smirking quietly to himself, the Doctor strolled back towards his TARDIS musing over what he was going to do to occupy himself for the next twelve months… not that he couldn't nip in and pop right back twelve months from now, but somehow that just didn't seem like a whole lot of fun.

"Wonder what Cardiff is like this time of year…" he smiled as the TARDIS doors swung shut.

……………………………………………………………..

Jack found Ianto standing in front of the dresser drawer, holding a shirt. Just, holding it. Staring.

"You ok?"

"I think… it's starting to hit me," he turned. His face was pale.

"Sweetheart?" the older man crossed the distance between them, resting his hands on the other's arms. "Talk to me…" Ianto was shaking.

"This is the year 4992, Jack. I… I've been dead for three thousand years…"

Jack drew him into his arms; he remembered the first time he'd travelled to the future… it hadn't hit him as quickly as it was hitting Ianto, or nearly as hard, but he was pretty sure he remembered looking out at an alien sky, thinking about everything he'd left behind… thinking just what Ianto was thinking now. The memory had been buried until a second ago… "You're not dead, Sweetheart, you're right here," he gave Ianto's arms a gentle squeeze.

"But I am dead, Cariad. Everyone I know is dead. My mother… Nerys… my brothers… everyone we knew… the whole team. Myfanwy. Janet. They've been gone for so long that nobody even knows they existed…"

"You know they existed. So do I. We'll be back in a year…only a week for the rest of them. Gwen won't even have time to plan a proper baby shower," he repeated the very thing she'd been moaning about for a week already.

Ianto didn't smile. "What if something happens before we get back?"

"They'll be fine. Gwen and Bobby can hold down the fort for a week without us there to hold their hands." He had left the two of them collectively in charge. Gwen had promised she wouldn't do any field work while he was gone and Bobby had promised not to let her.

Ianto shook his head. "But what if something happens to the Doctor? What if he isn't here to take us back? What if…"

"He'll be fine… he's been doing this a long time, Yan. He'll be here."

"Jack. What if something _happens _to him?"

"I'd find a way to get us home. I promise."

Ianto's expression changed to something Jack couldn't read.

"What is it?"

"This _is_ your home, Jack," he explained. "Your time, your era. _This _is when you're from. I realize it's a different planet, a whole galaxy away from where you'll be born, but you could get to your home planet from here. You'll still be alive in eighty or a hundred years. You could go home. You could pick up right where you left off… nobody would ever know…"

Jack held him tighter; he brushed his lips against his partner's forehead. "This is when I'm from, but it isn't my home, not any more. My home is with you. In Cardiff. In the twenty-first century. _That's_ where I belong."

The breath caught in the younger man's throat. "I love you so much. Sometimes I think you have no idea…"

Jack held his fingers lightly over his lips, silencing him. "I do know. I love you too. More than I know how to tell you sometimes."

"You just did, Cariad." He leant in… Jack met his kiss half way… moments later they were in a tangled heap on the bed, unpacking long forgotten…


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three: Flash Gordon and Gumby Jones**

* * *

_We cannot adopt the way of living that was satisfactory a hundred years ago. The world in which we live has changed, and we must change with it._

_Felix Adler_

* * *

"You mean to tell me people are still wearing jeans and t-shirts?" Ianto asked in a dubious tone when Jack suggested that what he had packed with him was fine to go to the clinic in.

The older man chuckled, "What did you expect, Flash Gordon?" For his part, Jack hadn't altered his usual wardrobe a bit.

"I guess… Maybe." Ianto felt his cheeks grow warm with embarrassment.

Jack didn't seem to notice. Or maybe he was pretending he didn't notice. He drew him up again into another one of those hugs, the warm protective kind that made Ianto forget everything he was afraid of. The younger man closed his eyes a long moment, resting his head against the warmth of his partner's chest…

"Why are you doing this?" Ianto asked him suddenly.

"What?"

"Jack, I know you never wanted to do this again. I know you don't want more children… I know you don't realize I know that," he added. "But I do. I've always known. I know you, remember?" He only barely realized he was babbling almost the same way he had the day he asked Jack for a job. "What I don't know is why we're here."

Jack regarded him for only a brief moment before telling him the truth. "Because it's something you want. Because I love you."

"Is that the right reason, though? Maybe we should… should take another couple of days to think about it…there's no rush, is there?"

Jack studied his partner a long, thoughtful moment, more.

A month ago Ianto had taped what Jack was sure were a million paint chips to the nursery wall, staring at them for days before finally settling on the 'perfect colour', a bright sunshine yellow. Then he drafted Jack, Bobby and Wendy into helping him with the boarder paper. It had teddy bears and butterflies and Jack never _ever _wanted to have to put up boarder paper again, not even if he lived to a hundred trillion years old.

However, having survived the experience, he'd gone with his partner and Wendy (Bobby suddenly remembered an autopsy he had to perform) to buy a crib, a changing table, dangly thing that went over the crib (_it's called a mobile, Jack,_ Ianto had told him in a dry tone.) Toys. Clothes. Wash clothes. Nappies… everything and then some. Yet Ianto had accused _Gwen _of nesting…? (Jack wisely kept that observation to himself, however.)

"What are you really worried about, Sweetheart?" Jack asked in a patient tone.

"I… I wonder if this is really the right decision. Look at our lives… isn't it enough that we have Jason to worry about?"

"If you're saying you've changed your mind…" Jack began. But he knew that look. That wasn't it at all. Ianto wanted this just as badly as Jack thought he did. "Talk to me. Tell me what's bothering you."

"What… what if… if I'm not ready for this? I don't know the first thing about being a father, Jack. I'm not even thirty years old… I might not live to see thirty years old."

"Shhh… "

"Jack, we both know what Torchwood is like…"

"And if anything ever happens to you, I…" he felt his throat closing up, but forced himself to continue. "I'll be there for our child, Ianto. I promise. I'll quit if I have to."

He favoured the older man with a wry smile. "You'll never quit, Jack."

He smiled in return. "No. But I'll find a way to make it work. I promise," he fought back the lump in his throat that he always got when Ianto was being fatalistic. "Besides… I'm not going to lose you any time soon. You'll see. In fifty years, people are going to stop and stare when we walk down the street holding hands and think you're a dirty old man…" he forced the grin he flashed his partner.

Ianto chuckled. He had to admit he liked the thought of being together for fifty years…he would have been happy with ten. But that was before Jack asked him if he wanted to have a baby… that changed so much… "Are you sure you want to do this, Cariad?" he asked softly, searching his partner's eyes for some clue… any hint that Jack had reservations…

"Yes. I am. I want it this. I want it with you. I want it because of you."

Ianto pressed his lips to his partner's mouth, kissing him long and hard…

"Are you sure you're all right?" Jack asked him again. Ianto had been holding on so tight.

"I will be. I'm just nervous. About being here. This time. I feel like everyone we meet is going to know I don't belong."

"They won't."

"But what if I say something… do something…? I don't know the first thing about any of this, Jack. I'm not you. I… I'm not the Doctor."

He drew back away from the younger man, but only so he could take both of Ianto's hands into his. "Sweetheart, listen to me. By this time there are so many worlds… so many civilizations… so much out here… you could say you were from Timbuktu everyone would just think it was some planet they'd never heard of because _nobody_ knows them all by name, there are just too many."

Ianto nodded. It made sense. The Human Empire spanned four galaxies and literally tens of thousands of worlds.

"One last thing." Jack pulled Jason's old translator out of his pocket.

Ianto blinked, clearly not understanding.

"Nobody has spoken English for a very long time, Sweetheart."

The younger man swallowed, stilling the shakiness of his hands as he reached out to take the translator from his partner. "I… I hadn't thought of that. But you…" Jack wasn't wearing a translator, not unless the wrist strap… it probably did serve as a translator, too. He suddenly wondered how the Doctor did it… he was sure the Time Lord must speak dozens, if not hundreds, of languages… but how could anybody speak them all?

"The Human Empire uses a 'universal' language to help people from different worlds communicate," Jack explained of his own ability to speak to the locals. "I grew up speaking it, just the same way you grew up speaking both Welsh and English."

Ianto swallowed… the translator hanging around his neck would be a dead give away that he didn't belong…

"There's a reason they still make translators, Yan." Jack caressed his hands, rubbing them gently with his thumbs, understanding the concerned look on his partner's face. "The _worst_ anyone is going to think is that you grew up on some backwater planet and that you don't speak Sparsee well enough…"

"Sparsee?"

He shrugged. "I didn't name it. It's been in use for the better part of the last thousand years, but there are still plenty of outlying colonies whose inhabitants cling to their native languages. Kind of like those little villages out in the country," he explained with a grin. "It's why we still need translators. People are stubborn."

"Fantastic. I'm a gumby."

It was all Jack could to not to laugh at him. Instead he pulled his partner into another warm kiss. "But you're my gumby," he said in an affectionate tone.

"You're not helping."

Without missing a beat, Jack pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and offered to knot it, ala Monty Python's Mr. Gumby style.

For a man his size, Ianto threw a pretty good punch… it was a good thing Jack had been expecting it.

Within moments they were both laughing, rolling around on the floor, regretting very much that they had to go or they would miss their appointment all together…


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four: Conception**

* * *

_Doctor says to a man "You're pregnant!"  
The man says "How does a man get pregnant?"  
The doctor says "The usual way, a little wine, a little dinner...._

_Henry Youngman_

* * *

The procedure began with a routine physical check up for each of them. Conducted separately.

Ianto swallowed back his nervousness; they were being examined simultaneously in two different rooms, by two different nurses for expediency's sake, not because anyone was going to be comparing their stories looking for inconsistencies… in fact, the only questions the nurse asked him were about his own personal health. She seemed unbothered by the fact he was using a translator… she seemed hardly interested in him at all.

Afterwards they were taken together to another room where the met with the technician who would harvest the genetic material.

"I'm Basha Gullier," she introduced herself in a personable tone. "I'll be with you two… or three as the case will be after tomorrow," she amended with a smile, "Nearly every step of the way. Nervous?" she seemed to pick up on Ianto's anxiety almost immediately.

He stared at his feet. "Just a little..."

"It's perfectly natural," her tone was calm. Kind. "This part is absolutely painless, I promise. I just need to see your arm."

He took a shallow little breath and let it out quickly – according to Tim shallow breaths were better than deep breaths for calming the nerves – and presented his arm, trying very hard not to look at the horror-movie worthy little tool she was brandishing.

It was little more than a skin scraping.

"Is that it?" the younger man was startled by how quickly she had taken the sample. He'd barely felt a thing.

"That's it," she told him.

He blushed, feeling his ignorance was showing. Jack was already rolling up his sleeve.

The technician just continued to smile. "It's really a very simple procedure. At least for you," she nodded her head at his partner. "He's going to be doing most of the work for the next nine months."

Ianto reached over and took Jack's hand. "I've the feeling he's going to make me suffer for it, too," he managed to tease.

She chuckled along with them and then took a scraping of Jack's skin, storing both samples away carefully. "It looks that's about it… except…" she said consulting her data pad, "you still haven't indicated gender…?" she gave them an appraising look. Usually that was the first thing a couple told her. Quite often at least one party had a strong opinion regarding gender… it wasn't uncommon for all parties involved to hold strong, and not always complimentary, opinions in the matter. Regardless, they couldn't continue on to the next step without knowing whether they would be doing an XY or XX.

Ianto looked to his partner. Jack merely shrugged. He had Jason. He'd had two girls. He had absolutely no preference whatsoever about whether this child would be a boy or a girl.

"A girl," Ianto said at last. "We'd like a daughter," he gave Jack's hand a squeeze, sounding more confident than he felt.

Jack squeezed back and returned his smile. He was happy. A little girl would be wonderful… and probably give him more grey hairs than a boy… but he could get through that.

Jason, of course would be at least a little disapointed. He'd hoped for a little brother to play with, never mind that by the time his sibling was old enough to be much fun to be around, Jason would likely have turned his attention to other things.

"No other specifics…?" the tech inquired politely, glancing at her data pad again.

Jack flashed a smile in the technician's direction. "We'll take whatever nature…and the test tube… gives us," he told her.

"Purists, eh?" she said, but it wasn't at all an unkind tone. "Good for you, then. There's little enough nature involved in childbirth these days as it is."

Ianto heaved a sigh of relief. Apparently while a little unorthodox, their decision to let nature take its course wasn't entirely unheard of.

"All we have to do now just need to get you ready for tomorrow," Basha to Jack.

He groaned. He knew what was coming next...

Ianto blinked when she walked up to the wall and tapped on it, causing a hidden drawer to slide out. It hadn't struck Ianto until that moment that the furniture in their apartment was all pretty much stuff he would have expected in an apartment anywhere, i.e., not very Flash Gordon at all.

"His first round of hormones," she explained to the younger man as she administered the injection into Jack's neck. He was right about it looking an awful lot like what they did on Star Trek. "He may become a bit moody over the next twenty four hours," she cautioned. "Try to be supportive. Despite what science and technology tells us, a man's body isn't inherently designed to do this. He's going to need all the understanding and love you can give him."

"No worries there," he assured her, favouring Jack with an affectionate smile. He understood better than she did how much Jack was giving up for him just by being here.

"When you check out, you'll have a proscription for oral hormones. Remember…"

"I know. Follow the instructions to the letter," Jack groaned at her. He hated hormone supplements.

"Likewise with your pre-natal vitamins," she gave him a stern look as she injected the second 'shot' into his neck. It went in with a whoosh. "They're important to you _and_ the baby."

"I'm married to the ultimate mother hen over here," he teased. "He'll make sure I take care of myself."

"Good then. You see that he does what he's supposed to do and we'll see you back here tomorrow morning for surgery and implantation."

"Yes, Ma'am. I will."

………………………………………………………………

"So now what?" Jack asked as they left the facility. They nearly twenty four hours before they were due back... "You ok?" he asked. Ianto's expression was difficult to read.

"I just can't get over… " he glanced back at the tall white building behind them. "Somewhere in there they've already started… I mean… " somewhere in the building behind them, in some Petri dish, some technician was… Ianto swallowed, but the lump in his throat refused to go away. Their child had technically already been conceived and it… _she_… would be implanted into Jack tomorrow…

Ianto looked over at the man standing next to him. Holding his hand. Smiling that warm, wonderful smile. It was the smile that told him just how much Jack loved him; it started those gorgeous blue eyes of his and worked its way down all the way to his lips.

Tomorrow morning, Jack was going to become pregnant. He was going to become pregnant because somewhere in the building behind him, someone was combining the genetic material they'd harvested from the two of them into a baby…

"Pretty amazing, huh?" the older man asked softly, guessing at some of what was going through his partner's mind.

"No. Frightening. I don't know how you can be so calm.... " but of course he was calm. He'd done this before…

He leaned in and brushed his lips lightly over the younger man's mouth. "I'm not calm because I've done this before, Sweetheart. I'm calm because of you."

"But I'm a nervous wreck!"

Jack's chuckle wasn't unkind. "Come on," he gave the other man's hand a gentle tug. "We should do some shopping."

"Shopping…?"

"Groceries," Jack reminded him. He had list as long as his arm of what he was – and wasn't – supposed to be eating for the next nine months (thank GOD they had yet to perfect a way for men to breast feed!) How exactly he was going to survive without Ianto's coffee magic, he wasn't sure… but he had the distinct memory of coffee playing havoc with him when he was pregnant with Jason. Something about around the clock heartburn…

Ianto gave him a nervous look. "This is the fiftieth century, Jack. Don't they have a delivery service or something?"

He frowned. _"You _don't want to go to the store?" It wasn't that Ianto was some sort of shop-o-holic, but he tended to be a pit pickier than his partner when it came to what went in the pantry.

The younger man shrugged. "What would I know about the local produce anyway?"

"This is a largely human settlement, Yan. Come on," he tugged at his hand again. "People still eat pretty much the same things…"

"So why don't we just order groceries them? Don't tell me they don't deliver."

Jack understood. "We're going to be living here for a year, Sweetheart."

"I know."

"If you're having second thoughts…"

He gave the older man a wide eyed look… he couldn't honestly mean…? "I want this. I do."

"Shhhh… hey, I wasn't talking about the baby," he wrapped his arms around his partner's waist. "I just meant that after the implantation we could go home. I can walk Bobby through the next nine months. He would probably love the chance to see future medicine first hand," Jack added, knowing for a fact that his medic was sorely disappointed he hadn't been invited along. "All I have to do is call the Doctor…"

"Is that really safe? Having the baby at home, I mean."

"I trust Bobby." He wasn't sure how he felt about the way the rest of the team would fuss over him… Abby… Sara… Gwen… the women would be the worst… and Mickey. Mickey would have a field day…

"You can't go into the field pregnant, Jack. Even if you're not at risk…"

"The baby would be," he agreed. "And I won't be anywhere near one hundred percent while I'm pregnant." Smells would hit him just as hard as they hit Gwen that day. His emotions were going to be all over the board. "I've done this before. I know my limitations. I won't take chances," he promised.

"But it would kill you to have to limit yourself like that. To watch the rest of us go out there when you know it should be you. When you should be with us. And we'd have to move back into the Hub in a couple of months… we can't very well have you strutting around pregnant in our neighbourhood," he explained to Jack's questioning look. Apparently he hadn't thought of that.

Jack yielded to the younger man's reasoning. "We'll have to come up with a good story for your family, too, about why we came home by ourselves. Why I'm not around for six or seven months." He mulled it over a minute. "I suppose we could say that something happened, we're going back in a few months. Your mother will tell you she told us so, but other than that…" he shrugged. It was a plausible story.

Ianto shook his head. "I'll be fine, Cariad. I just… I'm having a harder time adjusting than I thought I would." He was lying. He hadn't thought about it at all. He'd been so caught up in what Jack was willing to do for him… what it meant… he hadn't thought to consider what it was going to be like living three thousand years from home.

He had considered the time away from his family and friends. A whole year without being able to talk to his sister, even though she was the one person he'd begged Jack to be able to tell the truth to. He needed one person to know… one person he didn't have to lie to. But even so, he couldn't call using Martha's phone, the one the Doctor had rigged somehow, because in Nerys's time they were only going to be gone a week. Even if he only called once a month, that would be twelve calls over the course of only seven days… _and how the Hell does one calculate the time difference from three thousand years in the future and however many billions of light years away?_

"Why don't you go on to the store without me," he said at last. "I should be all right to get back to the apartment by myself."

"Are you sure…?"

"I can manage a walk across the park, Jack. Honest."

"I meant… all right," he relented. The look on Ianto's face told him that arguing would be a mistake. He could already feel his hormone levels changing… he had to remember to think carefully before he acted, especially since it wasn't just him going through a transition here. His was physiological, but that didn't make what Ianto was going through any less real. Any less difficult.

He also realized that for all he'd been looking forward to year when he wouldn't have to worry, he was still worried about the younger man. He was still vulnerable…

"I'll be all right," Ianto assured him in a tone that suggested he understood what Jack had really been trying to say. "I just need a little time on my own. A little time to think."

Jack nodded; he leant in and Ianto met his kiss half way. "I won't be too long at the store," he promised.

……………………………………………………………………….

Ianto took his time walking back to the apartment. He wandered aimlessly over the green grassy knolls and little wooded areas of the park, his hands tucked into his pockets, keeping a careful eye on landmarks so he wouldn't get lost.

He had a mobile… although the tiny ear piece hardly qualified as a phone. It could do everything that the 'latest' technology from the twenty-first century could do and then some. Jack had shown him how it worked before they left the apartment. Absently, he tuned into the local news report… it was a quiet day in the city. On the planet. In the galaxy.

What a world, Ianto thought, when the 'local news' included a galaxy wide report. _But I suppose when humans inhabit four galaxies…_Ianto sighed. He turned off the news…

The sound of children laughing drew him towards a play area where a dozen or so kids were playing on playground equipment that looked so familiar… swings… monkey bars… a merry-go-round… if it weren't for the large ringed planet that dominated the western half of the sky, he could be standing in Bute park, the scene just looked so normal.

A couple jogged past him. A man walking a dog… it seemed so _**normal.**_

Except that somewhere in some Petri dish, they were already combining his and Jack's genetic samplings with whatever else they needed to make a baby… the baby that the man he loved was going to carry inside him for nine months and there was nothing normal about that…

But that didn't make it any less wonderful.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: **ok, I picked over this a little more carefully and hopefully spotted at least most of the mistakes… I gave 4 a quick once over as well and caught a few I'd missed the last time around, corrected and replaced... thanks for noticing and pointing out that I was moving too fast and needed to be a little more careful!

* * *

**Chapter Five: The First Trimester**

* * *

_I begin to love this creature,  
and to anticipate her birth  
as a fresh twist to a knot,  
which I do not wish to untie._  
-- Mary Wollstonecraft

* * *

By the end of the first month, Ianto was accustomed to waking up to the sound of Jack retching.

Despite his Captain's insistence that he should just stay in bed, Ianto slid out from in between the soft warm sheets and slipped his feet into his slippers before making his way into the bathroom. He ran cool water onto a washcloth and pressed it gently to Jack's forehead as he leaned further forward, throwing up what little was left in his stomach in between bitter moaning. The younger man used his free hand to rub his back until his stomach finally stopped heaving.

"Oh God…" Jack leant into him, settling back away from the commode. "I'm dying."

"You of all people are not dying, Jack. You can't die, remember?"

His only response was a humourless groan.

Ianto chuckled despite his partner's obvious misery.

Jack just groaned some more. "If you loved me, you would shoot me and get it over with."

"If we I did that, we'd have an awful lot of explaining to do, don't you think?"

His response was another mournful groan.

"Come on," Ianto eased the older man up to his feet. He opened up the medicine cabinet and handed over the mouthwash.

Jack fixed him with a glare.

"You'll feel better if you rinse your mouth, I promise," Ianto assured him.

Without bothering to verbalize his feelings (the grimace on his face said it all, anyway), Jack swiped the bottle from his partner's hands and swished the foul minty stuff around his mouth. He spit it into the sink with a vengeance.

Nothing tasted good any more. Nothing smelled good. Everything made him sick to his stomach, even riding in the lift.

Ianto led him, grumbling with every step, to the little dining room table and sat him down. Without asking whether or not he wanted any, he made Jack a cup of ginger tea.

Jack hated ginger.

He hated ginger snaps and gingerbread men and ginger beer. He _especially_ hated ginger tea.

"It'll make you feel better," the young sadist insisted.

"So will a revolver to my temple."

"Yes, but tea is much more sensible."

"Spoken like a true citizen of the British Empire."

Ianto ignored the comment and the tone it was delivered in. He didn't remember Gwen being this miserable when she was pregnant… then again, Rhys may have seen a side of her that the rest of them were spared. Jack was completely civil to other people. _It's just me who keeps getting the short end of it… _with a sigh, he turned and headed towards the bedroom…

"Ianto…" Jack called out suddenly as the younger man turned away… he was only going to grab their bathrobes, although he supposed in Jack's hormonal state it may have looked like he was huffing out of the room. "I'm sorry. I know you're only trying to help."

He turned back to him, making a special effort to keep his tone soft. "I know that, Cariad," he laid a soft kiss on the older man's forehead. "I know you can't help it." He wrapped his arms around Jack's shoulders, letting him burry his head in his chest.

"God I love you."

"I love you too. Now drink your tea. I'm just going to go fetch your robe… and no dumping it down the drain," he added as he turned away again.

Jack managed a chuckle. He'd hoped Ianto hadn't noticed him doing that the last time…

Instead of a bathrobe, Ianto came back out of the bedroom with the comforter from their bed; he pulled Jack over to the sofa and sat him down so they were cuddled up together with the blanket draped over them.

Jack he drank his tea. He had to admit that as much as he was sure he was going to throw it back up again, it settled his stomach and he was able sleep through the rest of night without incident.

………………………………………………………………..

Jack lay on a thickly padded table in the exam room with his shirt open, a set of cameras positioned around his midsection, capturing a true three hundred and sixty degree view of the baby inside him.

But it wasn't Jack that his partner was staring it; Ianto couldn't take his eyes off the image in front of him. It was truly, fully, three dimensional, turning slowly, so he could see all sides of the five week old foetus inside his partner… their child… their daughter… he swallowed, but the lump in his throat refused to go away.

Jack reached out and took his hand; Ianto looked at him. "My God, Cariad," he breathed.

"Miraculous, isn't it?" Basha said in a soft tone. "No matter how much science we put into to…" she gave them both a smile.

"Are those really her fingers?" Ianto forgot to be embarrassed about sounding like an ignorant gumby.

It didn't matter, Basha's smile was anything but unkind.

"And her heart… ears… that's going to be a mouth," she hit a few buttons to highlight each body part that she named. "She's in perfect health," she added, after consulting the readout on her computer screen.

Ianto blinked feeling his heart seize up in his chest. He had to sit down before he fell down… he took Jack's hand again. "Cariad…"

"We do good work, huh?" Jack beamed at him.

The younger man swallowed, but the lump was still in his throat, making it difficult for him to talk. This was really real. It was really happening. He had a daughter… they had a baby… _together…_

He looked to Jack… he was smiling. Handsome. So incredibly handsome that the younger man forgot all about how horrible he'd been that morning…every day for the last five weeks. He laid a hand gently on his partner's midsection because somewhere in there… he glanced up at the image again. She would be tiny… so tiny inside… but she was there and she was genetically one hundred percent theirs and in that moment Ianto knew how much he loved her.

How much he loved her other father. He leant over and laid his head next to Jack's stomach, closing his eyes. "I love you so much," he whispered softly at both of them.

"I love you too," Jack told him. He didn't remember feeling quite this happy when he'd been pregnant with Jason… it was a long time ago. He was sure he had been happy… but not like this. This was so different.

It wasn't that he didn't love his son, he did, he loved him so much, but what he felt now was closer to what he thought he remembered feeling when Laura had been pregnant.

Contentment.

The feeling that he was _sharing_ this amazing experience with someone so special… his beautiful Welshman.

Jack looked down at him… blue grey eyes. Welsh vowels. _Someone who loves me more than anything… _"Thank you."

Ianto gave him a startled look. "For what?"

"For making… " he shook his head and started over. "For being who you are because I wouldn't have wanted to do this again if it weren't for you and I can't tell you how happy I am right now. How happy you make me… both of you," he rested one hand on his belly.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six: The Second Trimester**

* * *

_You are the same to day that you are going to be five years from now except for two things:  
The people with whom you associate and the books you read._

_Charles Jones_

* * *

Jack all but pouted when Ianto declined his invitation to accompany him to the market. "Ianto, you've been cooped up in here for three months… come on…" he tugged at the younger man's hand.

The Welshman refused to budge. "I have not been 'cooped up'," he insisted obstinately. They went for a walk through the park _every day;_ they fed the ducks. Well… they weren't really ducks, but close enough. Some sort of small water fowl that ate bits of bread right out of their hands before happily returning to the little pond to swim around and wait for the next sucker to come along.

"Going the park and walking around aimlessly isn't the same thing as going out."

"Well what is it then?"

Jack heaved a sigh. "Going out means getting out of the apartment… and not just to go to the park. It means going somewhere…"

"Since when is the park nowhere?"

"I'm serious," Jack settled his hands on his hips. "You never want to go anywhere with me." He stopped a moment. He thought he knew why Ianto didn't want to go anywhere, but what if there was another reason?

He had first noticed the little bulge under his belly button a couple of weeks ago. He'd been trying to hide it by switching to trousers with elastic waist bands and baggier t-shirts, but Ianto had noticed it last night when they were going to bed. He remembered the look on his Welshman's face… he'd tried to ignore it. He wasn't ready for this. He wasn't ready to show. But it was just the way the male body was built, men started showing sooner than women.

This morning Jack had woken up to find Ianto already out of bed. He found him on the balcony, just staring out at the city. When Jack had wrapped his arms around him, he hadn't responded quite as warmly as he usually did… "I'm doing this for you, you know."

The younger man blinked, clearly not understanding what had come over his partner (although obviously something had. Jack had gone from pouting, to mildly perturbed, to genuinely upset.)

"I just… I know this is weird for you. I don't… I wish I knew what you were thinking when you look at me like that." _I don't want you to start looking at me differently… _he thought desperately in the younger man's direction. He wanted to give Ianto 'normal', but he felt as if he was failing miserably.

"It's not weird. Well… all right, it_** is**_ weird," he admitted. He couldn't lie, not when Jack was looking at him like that. "But that doesn't mean it's not beautiful. It _is_ beautiful, Cariad. You're beautiful." He moved in closer, resting one hand on the little bulge. "In there is something beautiful."

Jack laid his hand over his partner's. "Are you sure you really feel that way?"

"Of course I am. Jack… Cariad… I love you. I love it that you're willing to do this for me. For us. I'm not… ashamed… or embarrassed by the way you look. I think you look amazing."

"Then why won't you go anywhere with me?"

"I have everything I need right here."

"You need to get out… "

"Why are you making such a fuss over this?"

"We've been here three months and you won't even go to the grocery store and that's not like you. You have to have realized by now that you fit in just fine…"

Ianto sighed. He had figured that out. No one looked at him funny when they walked through the park. No one treated him like some sort of gumby three thousand years out of his time at the clinic. The few neighbours that he'd run into all seemed nice. "Jack, why should I get to know anybody? It's not like I'll ever see them again. I'm dead in this time, remember?"

Jack shifted so that his hands were resting on the younger man's arms. "You're not dead. You're right here. You're alive and there's a whole world out there…"

"Jack, please. I don't want to meet people, make new friends only to vanish out of their lives again. It's not fair."

Jack broke his gaze.

"What?"

"I never thought about it like that," he admitted. All that time travelling with the Doctor… swanning into people's lives… disappearing… leaving, like the Doctor had left him. "But you can't stay holed up in here all day, either. There's so much to see here… let me show it to you… let me share it with you. We'll probably never have a time like this again in our lives. Shouldn't we make the most of it?"

He swallowed… looked out the window. It was a gorgeous day…

"Just come with me to the market, Sweetheart. You don't have to get all chummy with the check out girl… although she is kinda cute," he flashed an impish grin.

Ianto chuckled; he suspected that had been the idea. "You're pregnant and yet you're still flirting with everything that moves…"

"There are some people who find a pregnant man sexy, you know."

Ianto's snicker turned into a full blown laugh.

Jack pouted, although he was having a hard time not laughing too… whenever Ianto laughed, it always made him want to laugh along, even if he was the reason for his partner's amusement.

"I'm sorry," Ianto said at last, recovering himself. "But that is just the last thing I ever expected to hear anyone say."

"Well it's true. I am _very_ sexy," he struck a little pose.

Ianto laughed all the harder. "All right, I'll go out with you. If nothing else I don't want other people getting the wrong idea."

"And what would that be?" Jack asked with a mischievous smile… but what Ianto saw in his eyes was genuine… longing. For all his teasing, he really _was_ self conscious about the way he was starting to look.

Ianto leant forward and pressed a soft kiss to his partner's lips. "I'd hate for anyone to think you were available," he said. "Because you _are_ sexy, Jack."

"You really think so?"

"I know so."

…………………………………………………………….

Instead of the grocery store, Jack decided he wanted to go to an outdoor market near the outskirts of town; it was too far for him to walk comfortably in his current condition (he was _not_ used to being tired all the time), but he convinced his partner that the public transit system was perfectly safe.

"It's not the tram I'm worried about," Ianto told him. "I remember you trying to navigate the transit system back home."

"I've done this a dozen times since we got here," Jack assured him. "And the only reason I had a hard time that one time back home… _**one**_ time," he emphasized, "was because I hadn't taken a bus in Cardiff in over fifty years. They'd changed the routes…"

Ianto just rolled his eyes and allowed himself to be shuffled into the train… it seemed to run on some sort of narrow magnetic track that dipped down to street level to allow people to get on and off, then rose again, above foot and motor vehicle traffic. The cars had high, wide windows, allowing for a panoramic view of the city.

Ianto had to admit, it was a lovely ride. The city was clean. White. There were hanging gardens… fountains… they passed through a huge circle of statues… men and women, looking grand and officious. Jack told him they were the founding fathers of the settlement… although the sprawling city hardly seemed to qualify as a settlement in Ianto's mind.

He wondered how long people had been here, but decided not to ask… it was probably the sort of thing everybody knew.

"There's the library," Jack pointed to a large building off to their left. "Maybe tomorrow we can go…"

"I hardly think I should go to a library, Cariad." Jack had expressed his concern about Ianto reading too much history while they were here.

"You've almost read through everything you brought with you."

"I'm sure I can find something on the computer." He could, in fact, download nearly any book he wanted to.

"Come on… it could be fun…we could make out in the stacks…"

"Do you think we could worry about tomorrow, tomorrow?"

"All right," Jack relented. "I just don't want you spending the next nine months holed up in the apartment with nothing to do."

"I'm sure after the baby comes I'll have plenty to occupy my time," he said, although he hadn't meant it to sound quite so sour. A quick look at his partner revealed how much the words had stung.

Jack covered it up quickly, however. "We both will," he put his arm around the younger man's shoulders.

"I know. I really do." He leant in… Jack met the kiss half way. "You're going to be a fantastic father to this baby, Jack."


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N:**

First, a HUGE thank you to everyone who has read and is enjoying this... special thanks to McParrot who gave me a little bit of inspiration for a little excitement...

And to all my American friends, HAPPY THANKSGIVING... two minor kitchen fires later, the bird is in the oven and soon we'll be eating... I hope everyone has had a less eventful but just as happy a day as I'm having!!

(so if there are any major spelling blunders, you can blame it on oxygen deprovation... although there wasn't nearly as much smoke this time as the last time I had an incident in the kitchen... I suddenly understand Tosh's final message a bit better... incidents with toasters and all ;-)

* * *

**Chapter Seven: The Market**

* * *

"The Unexpected always comes at the most awkward times."

Larry Niven

* * *

Jack stopped trying to hide his smile after the third time his partner dragged him over to gawk at something new.

"Glad you finally decided to come out of hiding?" Jack asked him in a glib tone.

Ianto gave over a sheepish look. "I just… I don't want to get to know people and then… leave."

"I know," he pulled the younger man close, cupping his face, kissing his lips. "I really do," he insisted when Ianto gave him a doubtful look. "But we're going to be here for ten or eleven more months…"

Ianto didn't have to had excelled at maths to realize the discrepancy in those numbers. "Cariad… you said a year. One year. That was all. Just a year."

"We'll be back a week after we left… whose going to notice if we stay another month or two?"

"I will."

Jack relented without further argument. He understood that it was difficult for his Welshman to be away from his friends… his family. Jack missed them too… he missed Jason. But he'd learned how to live on a different timeline from the people he cared about a long time ago. It was just a part of the job… his old job. Then… "Did you miss them when you were in London?" he asked. He knew Ianto had gone to London and basically never looked back.

The younger man turned away from him. "That's not fair."

"Sweetheart," he reached for him. "I didn't mean it like that… Yan?" Ianto's whole body had grown rigid… Jack realized he may have put his foot in it a bit with that comment but surly this was over reacting… "Ianto?" he had stepped closer, almost protectively right in front of Jack.

The Captain followed his gaze across the market square and swore. If he was lucky… but he saw the glint of recognition in the other man's eyes. He'd seen them. He swore again.

"What the fuck is he doing here?" Ianto's tone was a match to Jack's.

"Take it easy, Sweetheart. We don't even know which version of John that is, remember?"

Ianto blinked. Jack had a point. This could be some younger John…this John might not even know him… but he hadn't _acted_ as if they'd met before the first time Ianto met him… of course he was a Time Agent.

"It might be a coincidence," Jack added. "Just because he's here doesn't mean he came looking for us."

"Maybe." And maybe by the fiftieth century they really had genetically engineered flying pigs…

John began making his way across the crowded street.

Ianto remained standing just between his partner and the man who had very nearly destroyed Cardiff. Whom he held personally responsible for the deaths of Tosh and Owen… who had buried Jack alive… he wished desperately that he was armed…

"Jack." John greeted his contemporary in a cool tone, confirming that he was at least some version of himself who had already been to Cardiff once. "Eye Candy," he added with a smirk, as if mocking Ianto's protective posture.

"Captain," the younger man said it as if it were a derogatory word. The other man had abandoned his red jacket and was wearing simple black jeans and a black t-shirt with motorcycle boots. He looked quite the 'bad boy' and probably fancied himself rather sexy. It made Ianto want to vomit.

"John," Jack's tone was warmer than his partner would have preferred. It brought out a cocky little smile in the other man. "How long has it been…?" he left the question open ended.

John held up his wrist and undid the wrist strap just enough so they could both see the horrific scar left from when Gray had fused the device to his flesh.

"What are you doing here?" Ianto wanted to know.

"Says the man three thousand years out of his time," John quipped back quickly in a snide sounding tone.

Jack laid a hand on his partner's shoulder. "This isn't the time…"

"Tell me, Eye Candy," John ignored his former partner in favour of the young Welshman, "As a child, did you ever read Sleeping Beauty?"

"What?"

"It's a fascinating tale… I think the moral of the story is wasted on the youth of your time, really. See… none of the truly horrible things that happened to that pathetic little princess would have happened, if her parents had only _invited_ the other little fairy to the christening. You have no idea how hurt I was not to get a wedding invitation."

Jack had had enough. "What do you want?" he demanded.

"Relax, Jack, I'm not here to cause you any trouble. I was just making conversation," he said with feigned innocence and a bright smile.

"And I'm the queen of bloody England," Ianto muttered under his breath.

John chuckled. "Think we could take this out of the street? There's a great pub near by… oh wait, in your condition…" he eyed Jack ruefully.

"The pub'll be fine," he snapped.

Ianto bit back several acerbic comments. As far as he was concerned John could go to Hell, they weren't going anywhere with him… but like it or not, Jack was still his boss and this could be something important. Not that he would ever believe anything John had to say. He would never, _**ever**_ forgive him… Jack's grip on his shoulder tightened momentarily then he found his Captain's hand wrapped around his. He gave it a squeeze. No matter what happened, they were in it together. Nothing John ever said or did could change that; Jack had left him. He had made his position clear… he might have loved John at one time, but he was a different person then.

_The man he is today loves me… will love me forever._ He found his other hand wandering briefly up to the pendant he had worn every day since the day Jack gave it to him… _Don't forget to empty the bins…_ he smiled to himself. Their private joke.

No matter what Jack and John had shared once upon a time, they hadn't had anything like what he and Jack had. He gave his partner's hand another little squeeze and cast a quick glance in Jack's direction to let him know he was all right. The older man's tight lipped smile told him that the message had been received and understood.

John led the way to the pub like he knew where he was going; Ianto wondered how long he'd been here.

He stopped wondering when he greeted the bartender by name and said he'd have his usual. "Water for my friend here… and oh yeah, junior there on the end will have a Shirley Temple," he winked at Ianto.

The Welshman bit down _hard_ on a retort forming in his throat; he would not be baited into losing his temper. Instead, he shrugged at the bartender with a friendly smile to indicate he didn't really care. He made himself count to three before casting John a quick sidelong glance. Yes, he was definitely disappointed that his little ploy hadn't worked… although why he was trying to piss him off the younger man wasn't sure.

_Could he really be that jealous? _Ianto wondered… John certainly couldn't seem to be able to keep his eyes off the little bulge in Jack's stomach and his frown deepened when Jack reached over and took his partner's hand. Ianto couldn't be sure, but he thought that Jack noticed it too… however rather than do anything to make his former partner less uncomfortable (like release Ianto's hand, a move that would have greatly upset the young man), Jack pulled his hand up to his lips and kissed it before settling it into his lap.

"Oh how sweet," John drawled in a sarcastic tone.

Out of deference to Jack, Ianto at least tried to hide his smug expression behind his drink. It wasn't easy.

"So was there something you actually wanted?" Jack queried. "Or was the temptation to see me pregnant just too much."

John flashed a smirk. "Well I have to admit it's nothing I ever expected to see with my own two eyes… mind you, I saw some old family photos," he gave Ianto a look. "He looked so cute back then… such the little house husband," his tone was ripe with sarcasm.

"I was _never_ a house husband."

John shot his former partner a snide little smile and took a sip of is drink. "Says you. That husband of yours… what was his name… Roan something…?"

The Welshman held onto Jack's hand with one hand; with the other he drank his drink, his face a carefully schooled mask of impassivity.

Jack cleared his throat and fixed John with a glare. "If there's something you want to say, say it. Otherwise…"

"Patience, patience… I just thought it might be nice to spend a few minutes catching up…"

"Fine. You've had your few minutes," Jack stood up, no longer attempting to hide his anger. "We have things to do..."

"I just came to warn you to watch your back," John said then a tone that was frighteningly serious. "Both of you. Because believe it or not, I still care about you." That last was directed solely at Jack.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight: John Hart**

……………………………………………………………..

"_The last time I saw him he was walking down lover's lane holding his own hand."_  
Fred Allen

………………………………………………………………………_._

"What, _exactly_, do you mean by that?" the chilly calm of Ianto's voice surprised even him.

John shot him a startled look. He swallowed the last of his drink as if trying to cover his surprise. "Ask your husband there about the Time Agency, Eye Candy," his tone remained snide. "Ask him about those two missing years of his… or didn't he mention that?"

"I told him," Jack's tone was just as cold as his partner's, but not nearly so calm. "There is nothing he doesn't know about my past, John. Nothing you can surprise him with."

The other former Agent's expression made it clear he didn't believe it. He verbalized as much with a simple, half muttered "doubt it." He swished the melting ice around in his glass and swallowed the last of the severely watered down alcohol.

"The Time Agency won't be around for another fifty years," Ianto began. Jack had promised him, they were safe here.

"Oooh and you were doing so well," John's tone was scathing. "_Time _Agency, Eye Candy, as in travels through space and _**time**_, just like your dashing Captain there." He signalled the barkeep for another drink

Ianto gave over an exasperated sigh. "I _know _that. What I meant was…"

"Leave it," Jack advised him. He fixed John with a dark look. "Whatever you have to say… say it."

"I already did," John insisted.

"What do you really know?" asked Jack.

The other mans' expression softened. "I don't know anything… nothing concrete, anyway," he took a big swig of his drink. "I just know that something… something might happen here. Now. I swear, Jack, all I know is that it's a possibility. It shouldn't exactly come as the shock of the century, you know," he knocked back most of the rest of the liquid in his glass, chomping down hard on an ice cube that ended up in his mouth. "You pissed off a lot of people when you left us like that. It didn't get any better once they figured out you were living nice and cozy in the past… oh yeah, and conning younger agents… falsifying artefacts… stealing money from the Agency. Did he tell you _that _story…?" he fixed the young Welshman with an icy stare.

"Yes," Jack and Ianto said at the same time.

"Damn. Looks like I'll have to go digging all the way to the back of your closet for skeletons," he winked at Jack.

Ianto put down his glass harder than he'd wanted to; it was just the way John said that… his tone…that look in his eye…

John smirked, clearly pleased at himself for finally getting to the young twenty-first century man.

Jack moved closer to his partner, encircling his waist with both hands. It had the desired effect; John gave a disgusted look. Rolling his eyes he finished his drink and announced that his work was done, he was leaving. "Unless of course you two would like a house guest… what do you say? Put an old friend up on your sofa?"

"You will _never _be a friend," Ianto told him, "'old' or otherwise."

"Still, I did come all this way to do you a favour… you could at least put me up overnight… what d'you say? Jack?" he looked to his former partner hopefully.

Ianto turned to look at him too when he realized by his silence that Jack was actually considering it… he gave him a warning look. There was_** no**_ way…

"Come on, Jack… Ianto… one night," John said in an inveigling tone, seeing he actually had a chance. "I'll even cook dinner… I'm wicked in the kitchen… or any other room you'd like me to be wicked in," he raised his eyebrows suggestively. "It could be just like old times…"

"No," said Jack. "It couldn't." His tone left no room for even John to try and wheedle his way any further into their lives than he had already.

Just the same, Ianto knew what was coming next. He wasn't happy about it, even if he understood that what Jack really wanted was more information out of the other man. His former partner…

_Friends close, enemies closer,_ the Welshman reminded himself as the three of them headed back to the train, his earlier good mood completely evaporated. He had actually been _enjoying_ himself… his hatred of Jack's contemporary grew exponentially.

It crossed his mind, and probably Jack's too, he reckoned, that this Time Agency of theirs might be using John to get close to Jack… but Ianto suspected they wouldn't have had that much difficulty tracking Jack down all on their own. They didn't need John to find him; they'd dropped Jack's mother right on their doorstep after all.

They had known _exactly _where Gray was, who had him; they had told her _exactly_ where to go to find Torchwood. They'd merely neglected to mention to Ella that her other son was Torchwood's leader…

It made Ianto believe that they really were all a bunch of sadistic psychopaths… it made him wonder what kind of man Jack had been before he met the Doctor… he wondered if that wasn't half the point… _make me doubt him… doubt us… _Jack had told him enough about his life with the Time Agency for him to figure out that they didn't just play about with time. They played with people's heads, with their lives. They had taken two years out of Jack's and left him with no memories of what he'd done…

"Nice place you have here," John's tone, as he looked around Jack and Ianto's apartment, was impossible to fully interpret… he _sounded _sincere, but that made the Welshman doubt him all the more. "Not very personable, though… but I'll bet that's you," he glanced at Ianto. "Jack here is quite the clutter bug… good in the kitchen, though," he winked at Jack.

"Enough," the older man said in a cold, curt, tone. "We said you could stay the night. _**One**_ night. In the morning I want you gone. In the meantime, how about at least _trying_ to pretend you know how to be a good houseguest." It wasn't a question. It wasn't even a request.

"Ooh, I love it when he gets all tough and masculine, don't you, Eye Candy?" he waggled his brows at Ianto.

"I'm going to start dinner," the younger man replied in a dull tone, ignoring the question all together.

"Do you have anything to drink?" John queried, flopping down on the sofa (over the back of it), and resting his feet, dirty boots and all, on the coffee table.

"No," Ianto called from the kitchen. "And get your grimy shoes off the furniture!"

John smirked in Jack's direction. "Touchy, isn't he? I don't know how you put up with it. As I recall you hated being bossed around," he flashed the other a wry little grin. "At least not unless I got you tied up… then you could be remarkably complaint… are you as compliant for your little wife?" he nodded in the direction of the kitchen.

Jack settled himself into a chair on the other side of the room. "What do you want?"

"A drink might be nice."

Jack shot him a look that clearly communicated he wasn't going to get anything if he didn't stop playing games. He knew… or at least he hoped… that Ianto had used cooking as an excuse to give he and John a few minutes alone.

John had wanted something. He always wanted something. He'd wanted to get closer. Jack only gave that to him because everything with John was a negotiation. Give. Take. Give. Take. Give… _try not to get taken in_… he reminded himself. "What do you really want, John? Why are you here?"

He heaved a heavy sigh. "I told you. Honestly. I still care about you, Jack. I will always love you," his tone seemed sincere.

"Fine. Just don't expect it to be reciprocal."

The other man stood; he wandered over towards the balcony door and let himself out. As predicted, the older man joined him. He kept a healthy distance, however… he tried to pretend that didn't bother him. There had been a time when the man calling himself Captain Jack Harkness couldn't keep his hands off him…

"You pushed me off a building," the other reminded him, understanding the thought process he saw in his former partner's eyes. "You expected it to kill me."

"Touché."

"This isn't a game, John," he glanced back into the apartment… Ianto was still in the kitchen. He said another name…

The other man's eyebrows shot up. "So you remember my name at least," his tone was wistful. As Time Agents they changed names so many times… he stepped closer; the other stayed his ground. "Tell me something honestly," he reciprocated using the other's given name. "What does _he_ give you that I can't?" he cast a quick glance towards the apartment, as if there was any doubt about whom he was speaking.

"Do you really want me to answer that?"

"I could have given you a little bun in the oven…"

Jack rolled his eyes. "I wouldn't _ever_ have done something like this with you."

"What is it with you and bookworms, Jack?"

"What?"

"Come on… why do you always end up loyal to the lost little lambs of the universe when you could have a tiger like me at your side? Willing to fight for you… kill for you. I would have done anything for you. I still would. I can be domestic… I'll even put on a suit and serve you coffee in bed…"

"If the only reason you're here…" Jack's tone was one of warning. If this was just a game…

"No," he turned away, glancing out over the city. "That's just curiosity talking," he couldn't keep the hurt from his tone. "I honestly don't understand what you see in him. What you saw in that other one. Roan."

Jack swallowed. Being so close to Roan's time… Jason's… his own… "That was complicated. And it was a long time ago."

"For you."

"For you, too."

"We really did have something, you and me…"

"No. We didn't."

John turned to face him, "Why won't you give me just that much? Why won't you at least admit that you loved me?"

"Because it's over. I'm not that person any more."

"So who are you now, Mr. Mom?"

Jack raised an eyebrow, "I think you've spent too much time watching twentieth century television."

"Not much else I could do, was there?" He turned, leaning his back against the balcony railing. "God is that a boring little planet you settled on. I don't know how you lived there for what… two hundred years? How did you ever manage it without going completely mad?"

"How did you get here, anyway?" Jack answered John's question with one of his own. "I thought…" he glanced at John's wrist strap. Gray had disabled it.

"I fixed it…I always was more clever than you," he shot over a wry smirk. "I could have a look at yours if you like…" he raised his eyebrows suggestively, the innuendo clear.

"No. Thanks," he added almost as an after thought.

"You're really happy there? That little blue ball…? When you could have all this…?" he gestured towards the sky.

"I am completely happy there," he laid a hand on his midsection without realizing it. Then he gave the other man a long, speculative look before asking him if he was serious about the Agency looking for him or if that was just another one of John's lies, just some ploy to disrupt his life.

"I… yes. Honestly," he promised when it became clear Jack didn't believe him. "I don't know if they'll find you, Jack, here or anywhere else, but I know they're looking. I left Earth a while ago. I've been travelling… you know… seeing the sights," he glanced out at the city again, over his shoulder. "Could you have picked a more boring little out of the way little rock to have a kid? Gawd, this place is even worse than Earth."

"That was the point."

John didn't comment.

"The Agency?" Jack prompted.

"You were right about our old boss not helping your mother find Gray out of the goodness of her heart. I just don't know what she wants from you or why she hasn't made a move. My contacts are pretty limited these days."

"Those two years the Agency stole from me…?"

John shook his head. "Sorry. No idea." His tone was such that Jack believed him. "They took those same two years from me, you know, when they took you away from me. I went out of my mind when you vanished, when nobody would tell me anything… I did search for you, Jack," he reached for the other man's hand.

He pulled back. "Don't."

"I know you loved me. You weren't ever going to leave your little librarian… not that I cared. Husband, kid, whatever," he shrugged. "You warmed my bed more than you ever warmed his... more than you warmed anybody else's at the time. You _did _love me, Jack. Just admit it… just say the words… what will it hurt?"

Jack looked him straight in the eye. "Like I said before. It was a long time ago. It's _over_. "

"Is that why you didn't invite me to the wedding? You could have at least invited me to rub my nose in it, you know…"

"I didn't invite you because I didn't want you there. I… I'm sorry." He walked back into the apartment to see if Ianto needed a hand in the kitchen.

……………………………………………………………….

When Jack and Ianto got up early the next morning, John was already gone.


	9. Chapter 9

**

* * *

**

Chapter Nine: An Evening Out

* * *

"_I think we all wish we could erase the dark times in our lives.  
But all of life's experiences, bad and good, make you who you are. Erasing any of life's experiences would be a great mistake."  
Luis Miguel _

* * *

Ianto came out of the shower to find his partner standing naked in front of the mirror… definitely not his least favourite way to find the other man he loved, however… "Cariad?" he asked. Something on Jack's face…

He looked up at the sound of his partner's voice; he was still damp from his own shower, taken just before Ianto had taken his. His expression was difficult to read, but the younger man could see that something was definitely the matter.

"Tonight was your idea," the Welshman reminded him in a soft tone. He hadn't wanted to go out, but Jack was right, he couldn't let John's visit rattle him. It had been nearly three months and so far, nothing horrible had happened.

And he knew he couldn't stay cooped up in their apartment refusing to go out for fear of making friends. All things considered, Ianto was forced to concede that that was rather silly. Jack was right, even in his own time, he could never really know which people would be friends for life and who would drift in and out of his life… people moved… life moved on.

Both he and Jack had spent the first two weeks after John's sudden appearance – and just as sudden departure – peering around every corner, stopping to examine every shadow, but eventually they settled back into a routine that didn't include paranoid behaviour. Jack even managed to convince his Welshman to go to the market again… to make out with him in the stacks at the library.

For all Ianto knew, John's real motivation in dropping in on them was _just_ to shake up their lives out of spite. He was the one who had brought up the story of Sleeping Beauty, after all, the moral of which had never been lost on the Welshman. It was better to invite the consummate trickster to appease him or her, rather than to risk pissing them off by snubbing them. That didn't, however, mean he regretted not inviting John to his wedding.

"If you don't get dressed, we're going to be late," Ianto suggested in a carefully gentle tone. Jack was still staring at his reflection in the mirror…

Last month at the library, Jack found an advert for a concert he _**had**_ to see. Although the band members were all dead and gone by Jack's youth, it was one of his favourite bands 'of all time' – which was certainly saying something. Under the circumstances, Ianto didn't feel like he could refuse.

It would he like him suddenly getting the chance to see the Beatles or Elvis Presley and someone telling him he couldn't go.

Jack didn't respond to his partner's prompting. He didn't feel like going anywhere. No matter what he wore, it was painfully obvious he was pregnant. Or fat. Or both. According to their technician, he had gained 'a little more' than the recommended amount of weight since their last visit… but she went on to confide that that was perfectly normal and he shouldn't let it bother him.

_Easy for her to say_, Jack thought. She'd probably never had children.

Ianto's telling him how much Nerys gained with Remi didn't help, either.

And he was _sure_ he hadn't gained this much weight with Jason. He'd kept his figure _at __**least**_ through the first seven months. He'd shown a little, of course. It was impossible not to, but he'd been able to hide it a lot longer than he was able to hide this pregnancy. Not that he necessarily wanted to hide it… _but if I look like this at __**six**__ months, what am I going to look like at __**nine **__months? _He wondered. If he were a woman in the twenty first century, he would be certain he was carrying twins. Triplets even. But he was a man in the fiftieth century and he knew that wasn't possible. Which left only one conclusion. It wasn't the baby, it was him. He was fat...

Ianto crept up behind him and wrapped his arms around Jack's waist. "You look beautiful, Cariad."

"I look like a beached whale."

Ianto tried, but he couldn't bite back his chuckle. Jack _was_ showing, but it wasn't half as bad as he was acting...

Jack pulled away from him. "It's not funny!"

"I know. I'm sorry. It's just that you're not even into your third trimester and you're already moaning about how you look… Cariad…" he followed his still-naked and obviously sulking partner into the kitchen. "That isn't going to help, you know."

He'd gone straight for the ice cream. Again. Lately every time Ianto turned around, Jack was in the freezer. _The fiftieth century and Jack's favourite comfort food is still Rocky Road ice cream. _Ianto sighed. "If you feel fat, eating _that_ isn't going to help," he tried to take it away, but the look in his partner's eye suggested he might lose a limb if he got too near. "Jack…"

"I don't care!" he said defensively in between giant spoonfuls of ice cream. "I'm fat anyway, I might as well eat what I want!"

"For all it's worth," Ianto came in slowly and carefully, making a great show of staying away from the Rocky Road, "I really do think you look wonderful." He laid a gentle hand on the ever growing bulge.

"I look fat."

"You look pregnant."

"Same damned difference."

Ianto sighed. He pulled the ice cream away from his partner (thankfully without losing a limb) and put it away. "Come on, you've been looking forward to this concert for almost a month," he coaxed the other man towards the bedroom. "I know you; you'll feel better once we're out."

"No I won't."

"Yes you will, you always do. Now come on," Ianto pulled him into the bedroom and handed him his shirt. It probably didn't help matters any that earlier in the day they'd gone shopping for maternity clothes. The shop girl, the first alien Ianto had seen since their arrival, had presumed Jack to be a further along than he was.

"Let me ask you something," Ianto sat his unhappy sulking partner down on the bed. He sat down too, taking the older man's hands into his. "Say for argument's sake that I really do see my thirtieth birthday… my fortieth… maybe even my fiftieth…"

"That would make me so incredibly happy."

"Would it?"

"What?!"

Ianto flashed a sly smile. "In twenty years… in thirty years… I'm going to have wrinkles and grey hair. I might even lose my hair. You've seen my mother's brother Harold. I'm sure that comb over wasn't fooling anybody."

Jack chuckled briefly at the mention of Uncle Harold. "Just as long as you promise to wear your hearing aid turned to the right volume," he teased.

Ianto mirrored his smile before continuing in a serious tone. "The point is that eventually I'm going to get old."

"I hope you do."

"Cariad… are you still going to love me when I'm grey? Balding? If my metabolism goes to shit and I develop a pot belly…?"

"I'll be more than happy to help you work off those banana splits," he promised with a lascivious grin.

"I'm serious, Jack. I'm not always going to look like I do now."

The Captain took a breath and let it out. The hurt in his tone at the suggestion was obvious. "What makes you think I won't love you just as much as I do now? I know I tease you about the suit… but it's _you_ I love, Sweetheart. I'm never going to care what you look like."

"So what makes you think _**I**_ care what you look like or that I love you any less now that you're carrying around a little extra weight, especially when most of it happens to be our daughter?"

Jack regarded him a long, thoughtful moment… the notion of Ianto actually growing old… of them having a real life together… made him feel so warm inside… Which didn't mean that he didn't understand the real message. "You're trying to tell me I'm being silly, aren't you?"

"Yes," he leant in and gave him a quick peck. "Now get dressed…"

"Ianto," Jack pulled him back in for another, much less chaste kiss. "I would be so happy… I want you to live to be a hundred."

"I know. And truthfully, so do I. You've given me all the more reason to want to stick around," gently, he rubbed his partner's stomach... their daughter. "But that doesn't mean that you're going to get me to stop doing my job," he said.

"You promised…"

"I'll stick to the conditions of the Family Leave Plan, Jack," he agreed. After all, he'd been the one to draft it. "I'll probably spend the first few years of our daughter's life taking it easier than I would have otherwise. But if something happens… another alien invasion… whatever… I will be right next to you and the rest of the team on the front line. Don't you dare ever ask me to sit out of something that big."

"All right," he conceded. There was no arguing with the stubborn young man… one of the things he loved about Ianto was his loyalty… he would never abandon the team. He leant in and kissed him again, long and hard.

Ianto returned it… he found himself on top of Jack as the older man eased down onto his back… he knew what Jack had said before about not having a sex drive when he was pregnant with Jason, but if the last few weeks were any indication that wasn't a problem this time around.

"We could skip the concert…" the older man suggested in a husky voice.

"We could," Ianto agreed, easing back away from him. "But you'll probably never get another chance like this again. When we come home, however…" he gave his partner's inner thigh a gentle caress. It caused an immediate reaction that made them both smile.

Jack rubbed much more than his partner's thigh in return… However, if he was going to get the blood flowing back towards his brain, he needed to think about something other than the gorgeous man standing there in absolutely nothing…

Jack cleared his throat. "Yan… we've really only got a few months left to start figuring out names," he brought up the first thing that came to mind as he hauled himself up into a sitting position. Jason has been named even before they went to have the genetic material harvested… although like so many other things, he'd left that decision up to Roan.

"I suppose we should start thinking about it," Ianto agreed, although he sounded a little hesitant.

"So? What do you think? Did you have any names in mind?"

"I guess… I've always had a few favourite names," the younger man admitted slowly.

Jack gave him a look.

"They're all Welsh," he explained. "We should probably think about other sorts of names as well… " he slid on his boxers… jeans… t shirt. "Maybe something a little more… American…?" Even though Jack wasn't American, he had the accent.

"We're not moving to America any time soon, Sweetheart," he countered. "There's nothing wrong with giving a Welsh girl a Welsh name."

Ianto considered a long moment before speaking again. "What do you think of the name Seren, then?" he asked.

"It sounds Welsh," Jack teased.

Ianto picked up his sock and tossed it at him; he laughed. They both did.

"It means 'star'," the younger man continued, putting his sock on his foot; Jack had tossed it back at him, hitting him square in the side of the head.

"Star Jones Harkness… or Harkness Jones?" he asked.

"I guess it could go either way. Only if you call her Star, she's going to sound like a hippie."

"You're the one who said Mom was an old hippie, not me."

"How else was I supposed to explain her attitudes towards sex and sexuality to my conservative Anglican mother?"

Jack chuckled and hooked his arm around the younger man's thin waist as they headed for the apartment door. "You could have just said that she wasn't raised in the Dark Ages."

"Oh and how lovely that would have gone over," Ianto droned.

Jack locked the door and they headed for the lift. "So which is it going to be? Seren Harkness Jones or Seren Jones Harkness?" he asked.

"I'm Jones-Harkness," at least on paper. The novelty of a hyphenated last name had worn off quickly. It was his legal name but typically he introduced himself as Jones because it was much less complicated that way. "So it would seem to make sense that if she's going to have both names she should have it the same way around as me." He paused a minute. "What about Jason?"

"What about Jason?"

"I mean… I know he's Harkness now… but what about before?"

Jack took a breath and let it out. He'd wondered if Ianto was ever going to ask… "When I was with Roan, neither of us picked up the other's surname," he answered carefully. He knew the subject was a touchy one with Ianto. Since John's unexpected visit, it was touchy with him, too. "Jason would probably have had both our last names, but I suggested he just have Roan's. I… I knew I wasn't going to be around much." What John had said was true… he had spent very little time warming the bed of the man he'd fathered a child with.

"Cariad…"

Jack shook his head. "I made the mistakes I made. The best I can do now is not repeat them."


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten: Unforeseen **

* * *

_"Our deeds determine us, as much as we determine our deeds."_  
George Eliot

* * *

It was well past midnight when the concert let out. The arena, located nearly an hour away by train, was small but it had been packed (well past what Ianto would have presumed should be the legal limit, in fact.) Despite the best possibly fiftieth century air conditioning, the place was hot and thick with sweat, smoke, spilled alcohol and super-charged pheromones, both human and alien. Ianto hesitated to think what _else _might have been swirling around in the air that his twenty first century senses were ignorant to.

Still, he was glad he they had gone. Jack was right, they were only going to be there six more months. They should enjoy it. When they got back home…

He noticed Jack's grip getting tighter on his hand as they made their way towards the exit with the rest of the crowd after the fourth and final encore. "Are you all right?" he had to shout to be heard over the din.

"Just a little tired," Jack shouted back. Their ears were ringing. "Don't worry," he added, waving off the look of concern on his partner's face. "I just need a little fresh air, that's all. I'll be fine. I think you were right about it being a little too crowded in there," he added with a smile as they reached the exit at last.

Ianto nodded and held the door for him… and then several other people, just to be polite. By the time he got out into the cool night air himself, Jack was leaning up against a light post looking completely out of breath. "Cariad?"

"I'm fine. It's been a while since I've been up this late," he flashed a weak smile.

Ianto put his arm around his shoulders, "Let's get you home and to bed, then."

Jack gave over a decidedly lascivious smirk, mostly to try and cover up how exhausted he was finding himself. He didn't want to ruin Ianto's night out by causing the younger man to fret and fuss over him like some over protective mother hen. All he really needed was a little rest and he'd be fine.

They got to the tram well before the next train was expected; Jack didn't have to be told twice that he should sit down while they waited. He eased himself slowly down to the bench, ignoring how sore his whole body felt. He'd spent most of the concert on his feet and his feet and ankles were swollen up like water balloons.

"I was thinking," the younger man began slowly, talking mostly to take his mind off of being worried about just how tired his partner seemed.

"Hmm?" Jack cracked one eye open; he didn't quite remember closing them… he reached over and took Ianto's hand. "What were you thinking, Sweetheart?" he asked.

"What would… I mean… how would you feel about… our daughter… her middle name… how does Seren Toshiko sound?" he asked hesitantly.

Jack's smile was all the answer he needed, "I think Tosh would like that. I know I do."

Ianto leant in… the kiss was interrupted several moments later by the arrival of their train.

As soon as he was settled into their seats, Jack laid his head back, resting lightly against his partner's shoulder. He closed his eyes. Just for a minute. Just a little shut-eye to take his mind off his ringing ears and swollen ankles…

He didn't realize he'd dozed off until Ianto woke him up. "This is our stop," he said softly.

"You're getting to be a regular whiz at navigating," Jack teased.

"Just don't make a habit of falling asleep on me."

He chuckled at the younger man's tone, insisting on hauling himself to his feet without Ianto's assistance. It was just a dozen blocks to the park… a few minutes across the green… and then he could beg for a foot massage.

They'd got as far as the park when Jack's fatigue started to get the better of him… his whole body felt heavy. Maybe he'd skip begging for a foot rub and just go to bed… sleep was what his body seemed to be telling him it needed more than anything… it niggled at the back of his mind that he hadn't been feeling this run down since he got out of the first trimester…

The sound of Ianto's voice… his tone… made Jacks top in his tracks.

"Jack," he breathed. "Cariad… you're bleeding..."

He wasn't sure if it was the realization that he was bleeding that made him feel suddenly light headed or if he was light headed because he'd probably been loosing blood for quite some time, he just hadn't noticed...

"Oh God… what do I do?" Ianto was trying desperately not to panic, but he didn't know the first thing about… about anything. This wasn't his time. He didn't live here… he didn't… Jack was looking faint. He caught him before he fell over and eased him to the ground. "Cariad, talk to me…"

Jack looked past him before slipping into unconsciousness…

The Welshman followed the direction of his gaze. John. He knew it was irrational but his first thought was to wonder what the other man had done to Jack.

"He needs to get to the clinic," Hart said simply. "Help me get him up."

"You…"

"What, expecting the Tooth Fairy, Eye Candy?" his tone was snide. "Help me get him up," he repeated.

Ianto didn't move. "Why are you here?"

"I decided to stick around, make sure you boys didn't need anything. Good thing, too. Although this wasn't what I was expecting." He almost rolled his eyes; he already had Jack by one arm, however, trying to get him to his feet.

Ianto shook himself out of his stupor. If nothing else, John was right, Jack needed medical attention and he wasn't sure he could get him to the clinic without help. As much as he hated to accept assistance from Jack's former partner, he slid Jack's other arm around his shoulders.

"What are you doing this?" he asked of the other man as they started to move a barely conscious Jack in the direction of the clinic. John seemed to know where he was going… how long had been here? "What were you expecting to happen?" Ianto wanted to know.

"I told you. I thought the Agency was going to try something."

"Have they?"

"What, this? No, I doubt it. Don't get all conspiratorial on me, Eye Candy," he added to the look the young Welshman was shooting him. "The Agency might be clever, this isn't their style."

"All right," Ianto conceded. Somehow the fact that it was just a medical emergency didn't make him feel any better.

Despite the fact that John seemed to be helping him, he still didn't trust him, either. There was nothing in his experience to suggest that Jack's former partner was the least bit altruistic... which, later when his head was clearer, would make him wonder once more what Jack had really been like before he met the Doctor…

"We thought you left," he said.

"Trust me, as soon as we've got him to a doctor, I'm out of here. I don't want to be around you and your happy little family any more than you want to have me around."

"So you were stalking us…" his tone was accusatory.

John scoffed. "You wish. I was only hanging around… nothing better to do on this boring little moon anyway. You should be fucking grateful, you know," he added. "Instead of all these bloody questions, a 'thank you' might be nice. Or do I have to be the one to point out that even if _he_ can't die, I doubt that little bun in the oven is immortal. If he dies, blood stops pumping, oxygen stops flowing… you get the picture. Not to mention having to explain _**that**_ to the locals. Fiftieth century might be enlightened, but trust me on this one, we haven't figured out the key to eternal life."

Ianto felt the blood draining from his face. He hadn't taken the time to think about any of that. "Thank you," he managed. They were almost to the clinic.

"You're welcome."

"John…"

"Oh, don't go and get all sentimental on me now, Eye Candy. I wouldn't think nearly as highly of you if you did," his tone remained snide.

"Why are you helping me?" he asked the question anyway.

"I'm not," the Captain told him, shooting over a sharp glare. "I'm helping him. Don't you _ever_ forget that. If I ever get the chance, I _will_ leave you to bleed. I would be highly surprised if you didn't feel the same about me," he added with an entirely too friendly little smile.

Ianto swallowed. Nodded. It was uncomfortable, but it was the truth and they both knew it.

As soon as they got to the clinic, John made his promised exit...

* * *

**A/N:**

Ok, I have to admit, the characters sort of wrote that last one all by themselves… ;-) It wasn't a direction I'd intended, but I am enjoying it! Now I just have to write the chapter I woke up with in my head...


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven: Waiting**

* * *

_Oh, my friend, it's not what they take away from you that counts.  
It's what you do with what you have left._

_  
_William Cowper

_

* * *

_

Ianto paced the length and breadth of the waiting room, back and forth in front of the big window looking out over the city, his insides turning in on themselves. Tears bit at his eyes.

This couldn't be happening. They'd made it through six months without a hitch… they'd named her… Seren. Seren Toshiko. They'd named her and now he was afraid they were going to lose her… _please, let her be all right…_

Two days ago he'd felt her moving inside Jack for the very first time and that had been so much more amazing than listening to her heart beat or seeing her image. It had been so much more real… so much more solid. He was going to have a daughter…

Ianto swallowed hard but the lump in his throat refused to go away.

They'd been in the park… the few days before had been so rainy and grey, but that day had been perfect and Ianto had insisted on packing a picnic lunch… he just wanted to get out of the apartment for a bit.

He and Jack were sitting under a tree with Jack reading to him (a book that wouldn't be printed in Ianto's lifetime) when suddenly his partner reached out and took his hand. He placed it on his belly and there it was… movement. This little ripple across Jack's stomach from the inside… He was sure he didn't breathe at all for at least a minute…

And now Jack was bleeding and the thought of never getting actually meet their daughter… never holding her… first words… first steps… _please be all right… _

He should never have pushed Jack to go out tonight… he should have noticed the bleeding sooner… he should have _realized_ something was wrong… Jack was never tired, not like he had been earlier.

He should have insisted that they come straight to the clinic instead of trying to brush it off as nothing…

"Hey," said a voice at his elbow.

Ianto was jolted out of his thoughts… for half a second he thought John… but the voice was female. It wasn't Hart come to check on him… or to gloat over his pain. It was a young woman… maybe twenty something, he reckoned.

"You looked like you could use this," she held out a plain white mug, like the kind they used in the clinic's cafeteria.

Ianto blinked. The woman wasn't a nurse or a technician, they all wore easily recognizable white uniforms with little green crescent moons embroidered on the front. He was sure he'd never seen her before, either. "I… I'm sorry…I… " he didn't know what to say. The mug was filled with something hot… peppermint tea? His brain was unable to process the gesture.

"I'm here with my partners… Jaeka went into premature labour a few hours ago…" she nodded towards another woman sitting in the lounge, looking as worried as Ianto felt. "That's Karen. I'm Suki."

Karen looked up; nodded. Went back to her own, clearly pained thoughts. Her own worry.

"Ianto. Jones. Ianto Jones." He introduced himself shakily, taking the mug from Suki's outstretched hand. "Thank you. How… how far along is… Jaeka?" he had to search his memory for the name.

"Only four months. His body is rejecting the womb… they say that happens… one in a million, and wouldn't you know we're the ones," she seemed to be trying to laugh. "I know, I know, 'why is _he_ the one pregnant?' We get asked that all the time," she explained. "He wanted to. He seriously wanted to," she seemed to be trying to take it in stride, but she was clearly as distraught as her partner. "Maybe we shouldn't have let him."

"I…" Ianto didn't know what to say. There were too many things about the fiftieth century that just didn't make sense to him…. And yet Jack had said he'd been to the year 200,200 with the Doctor…he'd been to the end of the universe… and he probably hadn't been the least bit fazed by it, either. "I'm sure… they seem to know what they're doing here," he fumbled for something positive to say.

"This is the second time he's gone into labour. They said if it happens again, they may have to terminate… try again."

"I… I'm sorry…"

She shrugged. "What about you?"

"My husband started bleeding… I haven't heard what's wrong yet. He's at six months..."

"Well at least if they have to take the baby, there's a good chance…he…or she?"

"She."

"There's a fantastic survival rate if they have to take her at six months."

Dumbly, Ianto nodded. In his time there was almost no chance of survival at just six months…

"I… I'll leave you," Suki told him, then. "You just looked so alone… "

"I… am. My… family is…is far away," he stammered, realizing how alone he felt. He'd been too worried about the baby and Jack to think about being all alone, but now that he had… the only other person he knew in this time was John Hart, which was no consolation at all. He was entirely grateful John had made good on his promise not to stick around.

"That's the thing with spanning four galaxies, huh?" Suki's question brought him out of his thoughts.

"Yeah. It is." He drank his tea.

Everyone he'd ever cared about was dead… except for Jack.

Jack was probably still alive in this time, he would have to be. He couldn't die. What was three thousand years to a man who might live to see the end of the universe a second time?

Ianto wondered what Jack was doing, the Jack who belonged here. He wondered if he remembered him… if he remembered what had happened to them today, the first time he'd been here… now. He wondered if… _if in three thousand years any of this will matter to him at all_…

By this time he must have had hundreds… maybe even thousands… of other partners… lovers… loves…

He forced a smile in Suki's direction. "Thanks. For the tea," he clarified. "And the company."

"You're welcome." She took her leave, returning to her partner.

Ianto turned away from the waiting room and looked out at the city. At the sky. All those stars. All those planets. People… all of them insignificant specks really.

And somewhere out there was Jack… another Jack. An older, wiser Jack.

A Jack who might not remember that Ianto Jones had ever existed… that he had loved him more than anything… that they had had a family…

He closed his eyes against the tears that threatened to spill out. _Please let her be all right. Let them __**both**__ be all right…even if he forgets all about me some day, I still love him… I need him… I need… please, I __**need **__them both. I know I don't even know her yet, but I feel like I do._ He loved her… he'd loved her even before they named her, but now that he had a name to attach to all the feelings he had for his child… he couldn't imagine his world without her in it.

"Seren," he whispered very, _very _softly. "Seren Toshiko Jones Harkness…"

"Mr. Jones?"

He turned at the sound of his name. He recognized the nurse for her uniform, if not her face. His tea had gone cold. He was alone in the waiting room. "Yes… yes, Ma'am," he moved towards her. "How… how are they?"

"Both fine," she said.

Ianto felt as if he could breathe again. "What happened?"

"The umbilical cord pulled away from the uterine wall…"

He felt the blood draining from his face. That didn't sound 'fine'.

"Mr. Jones, the damage can be repaired… it's not as serious as it sounds. It might have been if you hadn't gotten him to us so quickly… "

He nodded… movement across the floor caught his attention. The lift doors slid openen… he recognized Basha Gullier even though she was wearing street clothes. She looked as if she'd rolled out of bed, pulled up her hair and come straight to the clinic…

Ianto met her part way, startled by his own reaction to her presence, reaching out, taking her hands… expecting her to know something the nurse didn't even though she was obviously just arriving.

"I'm so sorry I wasn't able to get here sooner, Mr. Jones…"

"Just tell me they're going to be all right." Because Jack would live no matter what, but Seren… she wasn't immortal and if Jack died, even for a moment there was no telling what his body would do with the pregnancy.

"I've spoken to the doctors who examined your partner. Both he and your daughter are going to be fine, Mr. Jones. I promise. The doctors are going to reattach the umbilical cord. It's not a dangerous procedure," she added. "He'll be on bed for a couple of days and have to take it easy for a week or two, but after that, he should be fine. These things happen sometimes," she told him. She lowered her voice, "No matter what science tells us, pregnancy puts a lot of stress on the male body…"

Ianto swallowed. Nodded. "We went out to a concert tonight… I should have been paying more attention."

"It's not your fault."

"But… the last couple of weeks… we've… we've been…" he blushed. He and Jack had been extremely active lately, and they hadn't always been gentle with each other. It was almost as if Jack was trying to make it up to him for those first three months, even though Ianto kept saying he didn't have to… he wasn't one to be able to turn Jack down, either. Now he wished he would have.

She seemed to understand exactly what he was unable to articulate. "Having a healthy sex life didn't hurt your baby Mr. Jones. Neither did going to a concert or walking around the market. Sometimes these things happen... and he may need to be just a little more careful the next few months, but they're going to be all right. You got him to us very quickly. That's what counts."

He tried to convince himself to breathe. He believed her. He didn't know why, but he believed her. "Will they let me see him?"

"Of course. I'll take you back." She moved past the nurse.

"Mr. Harkness is heavily sedated…" the nurse tried to object.

Basha ever so politely ignored her and took Ianto back to the ward where Jack was sleeping.

"What's that on his stomach?" the Welshman asked. It seemed like some sort of belt but it took up most of his midsection… there were lights… monitors… wires… it didn't look at all reassuring. He also wondered if it wasn't the sort of thing that everybody knew all about, because the nurse checking on Jack at the moment gave him a look… if he weren't so upset by everything else, he might have been upset by her obvious presumption that he was some sort of idiot for having to ask.

"They put the baby in stasis while the evaluated your partner's condition," Basha told him smoothly, completely unflustered by his ignorance. "It's just a precautionary measure, not an indication that anything is wrong," she added to the look of concern that flickered across his face.

He nodded. Stasis. That meant that the baby wouldn't be affected by blood loss… oxygen deprivation… "How bad was it?" he wanted to know.

"All preliminary indications are that she was completely unaffected… it was only a partial separation," she told him. "The reattachment surgery isn't even strictly necessary… but why take chances? It's a very simple procedure. It just takes a couple of hours."

He moved to Jack's side and laid his hand over top of his partner's. His skin seemed cold… Jack was never cold.

He opened his eyes and smiled when he saw his Welshman.

"God, I was scared to death," Ianto felt the words come out in a rush.

"Sorry about that," Jack's smile warmed as he twined his fingers into his partner's. He sounded as groggy as he looked.

"It wasn't your fault. You're both all right and that's all that matters." He held his hand… stroked his cheek. He leant in and kissed Jack's forehead. _I love you __**so **__much… _"You'll be up and driving me mad again in no time," he added with a smile.

Jack chuckled at him, although clearly it was an effort for him just to keep his eyes open. "What happened?" he asked.

As Ianto started to tell him, he closed his eyes… just for a moment… he loved the sound of his partner's voice… those beautiful Welsh vowels… so soothing…

He was out cold before Ianto could really explain what had happened.

"He's pretty heavily sedated," Basha told the younger man in a gentle tone. "I'm surprised he woke up at all."

Ianto smiled at her. "I'm not."

He sat with him until the doctors came to take Jack into surgery… he'd been allowed in the room when they did the implantation, but he wasn't invited back for this procedure.

Basha sat with him in the waiting room. She made him a fresh cup of tea. She made him eat something and made idle conversation with him to keep his mind off Jack and the baby.

Ianto found himself talking about his family… his sister… Remi… Jack… Jack's son… being the Wicked Step 'mother'. Dealing with his mother in law... of course he stuck to the story that Jack was only thirty seven...

"Mixed families are always challenging," his companion assured him.

Ianto could only begin imagine how complicated it must have gotten in the past three thousand years.

"Have you named your daughter yet?" Basha asked him then.

"Seren. Seren Toshiko Jones Harkness."

"That's lovely."

"Tosh… Toshiko Sato… she was a friend of ours. She died a couple of years ago…" _three thousand years ago_… "She… she was one of my closest friends," he said anyway, wiping away the tears as the weight of the last few hours finally came crashing down on him.

Tosh had been the first person at Torchwood to be nice to him… Suzie was too busy to even look at him… Owen only noticed him when he wanted a coffee. Jack… he had been so conflicted about Jack. It seemed like so long ago… a whole lifetime… he looked over at the woman sitting next to him and took her hand. "Thank you. For… listening. And sitting with me."

"I know what it's like to be a bit out of one's element, Mr. Jones."

He gave her a startled look.

"I'm sorry… I don't mean to… suggest anything. It's just… I was born on one of the outlying colonies, too."

"How did you end up here? If… if you don't mind my asking?"

"I was young, perhaps a bit naïve. Almost any life seemed better than what I had on the family farm," she shrugged. "I've no complaints about the life I have here… but I do remember what it was like to be as overwhelmed as you seemed to be that first day. They tell us we're not supposed to get too close to the patients…"

"I'm glad you did."

"So am I."

Just then one of the nurses appeared to let Ianto know his partner was out of surgery and all was well… she took him back so he could sit with him.

When Jack woke up a few hours later, Ianto told him about John. There was a part of him that didn't want to… would rather not admit that John was capable of even a single selfless act. But Jack deserved the truth.

He didn't comment. He just held onto his partner.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N:**

Ok, for Jack's little hissy fit about a quarter of the way down, you have to have seen John Barrowman in Hotel Babylon (I don't watch it, I just caught the clip on YouTube. If you're not familiar, type in "John Barrowman tits"… it is an hysterical few minutes… )

And as always, thank you for reading!

* * *

**Chapter Twelve: Eight Months**

* * *

_True love is when you have to watch a friend leave, with the knowledge that you might never see him again.  
But you know he'll be in your mind and heart forever..._

* * *

"Suki…" Ianto couldn't help the brightness of his smile when he came out of the restroom stall to find a familiar young woman at the sink washing her hands. According to Jack, public toilets had gone co-ed sometime in the middle of the twenty fifth century… Ianto could just imagine his mother's horror at the thought of ever having to share the restroom with a bunch of strange men.

"Ianto Jones," Suki returned his smile. "How's your partner?"

"Moaning that he can't see his feet," he grinned. Then he stopped smiling. When he'd met her, it had sounded like there was a good chance Suki's partner might lose their baby… He gave her a look he hoped was apologetic enough if he'd just put his foot in it.

Her smile remained warm, however. "We've made it to month six. With a couple of good scares," she added. "He hasn't into labour again, but it's been an uphill battle… his body is still trying to reject being pregnant. They're going to deliver the baby next week… hopefully by then we'll have settled on a name," she was having a much less difficult time smiling than she had when they met two months ago.

Ianto smiled, too. "I'm so glad…" although he still couldn't help but feel a bit blown over by how it was considered safe to deliver a baby at just six months… it must have shown on his face.

"I know, I know… scary, even with fiftieth century technology," she rolled her eyes. "I'm just glad this isn't a couple of thousand years ago."

He gave her an odd look.

Suki chuckled… giggled really. "I guess I should explain. I'm a history professor here in the city… medical history… probably not the best field for someone trying to help her partner through a difficult pregnancy. I can name just about everything that can possibly go wrong in a pregnancy and what the procedures were for correcting it for most of them for most of the last few thousand years," she managed a smile despite the obvious stress her knowledge had caused over the course of her partner's pregnancy. "My students say I know so much about the past I could have lived there."

Ianto smiled. "You hardly look like any of the teachers _**I **_ever had," he told her – and realized after the fact that that had sounded an awful lot like a come on, something he hadn't intended all intending…

She laughed again, seeming to understand perfectly.

Just then Jack stuck his head in the door to see what was taking so long. "Ianto…?" It only took him a few seconds to assess the situation.

He stepped fully into the bathroom and settled his hands on his hips, looking every bit the disgruntled husband. "Oh, I see," he moaned melodramatically, "here I am waddling around looking like a _beached whale _and here _**you **_are chatting up pretty girls in the loo!" he flashed enough of a grin to convince his partner he was only teasing. As if the exaggerated and clearly feigned hurt in his tone wasn't enough to make that clear.

Suki was just barely containing her laughter. "Your husband, I presume…?"

Ianto wasn't fairing much better when it came to not laughing out loud. "Suki, this is Jack… I'm sorry," he said back in her direction. "I never caught your last name…"

"Dunhill. And it's pleasure to meet you, Jack," she stepped forward, her hand extended. "Might I add that you're the handsomest beached whale I've ever seen."

He very nearly blushed. Ianto knew it was the hormones (he was crying at the drop of a hat lately, too), but it was cute.

"Ok, I approve," the Captain declared. "She can come home with us."

Suki lost her battle against the laughter. "I think my partners might have something to say about that…"

He shrugged it off. "The more the merrier."

She turned to Ianto, "What a handful you've got here, however do you manage?"

"Most days, just barely," he intoned.

"Um… _**excuse me**_,_" _Jack gave his partner a dark scowl. "I _am_ standing right here you know. I don't know how you can miss me," he gestured dramatically at his midsection.

Ianto snickered.

Jack continued to glare, although it was obvious that he really was still teasing.

The younger man turned his attention back to Suki. "It was good to see you again. I really hope everything works out for you three," he honestly couldn't believe how easily he'd just said that. "But I should probably be getting him home now…"

"Hello. Still here. You can stop talking about me as if I'm not…"

Suki laughed harder, pointedly ignoring the pregnant man in favour of his partner. "Clearly so," she gave a mischievous wink at the pair of them. "I think somebody may even need to be sent to his room," she said in Jack's direction.

Both men blushed.

"Why do I have the feeling you keep your partners on as their toes as I keep him?" Jack was the first to recover. He stepped in behind Ianto and laid his hands on his partner's hips, drawing him in close.

"There's a reason it took two to tame me," she answered with a smirk. Then in a more serious tone, "Would… would you two like to have dinner with us some time? Just dinner," she clarified quickly. "Not that I think Karen or Jaeka would at all mind more than dinner when we're not worried sick about Jaeka's condition…"

"Dinner sounds lovely," Ianto's answer surprised Jack – but the older man smiled:

"We're at the complex across the park," he told her. "Jones and Harkness."

"We'll look you up sometime soon," she promised; with a parting smile she took her leave.

Jack pulled Ianto closer (no small fete given the size of his stomach). "Finally coming out of your shell?" he whispered softly into his Welshman's ear, nuzzling him a bit as he did.

"Maybe… I guess. It can't really hurt."

Jack smiled. "No, it can't. I'm glad."

The younger man turned in his arms. "I think she was right about one thing, though," he said with a lascivious little grin.

"Oh?"

"I definitely need to send you to your room."

Jack smiled into the kiss he placed on his Welshman's lips…

……………………………………………………………..

Ianto unbuttoned the other man's shirt slowly, one button at a time. "I love you," he whispered as he drew the shirt down off Jack's arms. "I love you so much… I have loved you for so long." He kissed his lips… his chest… his neck… He eased him back to the bed, helping him lower himself down into a comfortable position.

"I feel like a house."

"Well you look beautiful," Ianto assured the him as he kissed his way slowly down his body, ending at his swollen belly. "You both do," he whispered to the child inside.

Jack chuckled despite himself. "I love you too, you know," he said.

The younger man looked up; that had sounded suspiciously like a question. "Yes. I do know," he said in a tone that left no room for doubting.

Jack ran his fingers through his partner's hair... coaxed him into looking at him... "How long have you known?" he wanted to know.

He smiled a shy, sheepish little smile. Jack undid the buttons of his shirt, coaxing him into joining him in half-nakedness while he waited for... listened to... the answer:

"A while," the young Welshman confided. "I… I wasn't sure… I mean… that first year… before you left… I knew I was falling in love with you. I didn't want to be," he added, wriggling out of his jeans. "But I couldn't help myself. And then when you left. I knew… I knew I was the only one of us who had been in love. It was all right," he said quickly; it may or may not have been true at the time, but now it was all right that Jack had left when he did. "I know you trusted me to take care of the things you left behind. That meant a lot to me… besides it wasn't like you ever promised me anything," he laid down next to his partner, running his fingers gently over his chest. "And then you came back." He leant in and kissed his arm… his neck.

Jack turned to face him. "You know I'll never leave you again… right?"

"I know you love me, Jack. I understand why left. You needed to find your Doctor. You needed closure on that part of your life. We could never have had what we do now if you hadn't. You would always have been waiting for him. I am glad things worked out the way the way they did… glad he came when he did. Glad you left. Glad you came back. Glad you stayed," he added with a soft smile. "And yes, I know you'll never leave me again. I trust you. I love you."

Jack rolled himself onto his side so he could face the younger man more fully. Those beautiful blue grey eyes… his face… he hoped he never forgot that face. He reached up, caressed his partner's cheek. Ianto took his hand, twined his fingers into his… kissed him. Both of their bodies were reacting to the proximity of the other, to the soft touches being exchanged… stroking fingertips… warm, wandering mouths…


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen: Nine Months**

* * *

_At last I feel the equal of my parents.  
Knowing you are going to have a child is like extending yourself in the world, setting up a tent and saying "Here I am, I am important."  
Now that I'm going to have a child it's like the balance is even.  
My hand is as rich as theirs, maybe for the first time.  
I am no longer just a child._

* * *

The young Welshman took a deep breath and let it out again. (Deep breaths were definitely better than shallow ones, no matter _what_ Tim said.)

They were back at the clinic in a comfortable private room, the same room they'd be staying in for the next two days, just like they had when they'd been there for the implantation. In fact it may have been the very same room for all Ianto could tell…

"Nervous?" Jack reached over and and his partner took his hand.

"I don't know why you're not," he replied dryly to his partner's unreasonable calm.

The older man smiled, "It's a simple procedure, remember?"

"But what about all the stuff that happens afterwards?"

"Ok, now I'm nervous," he said, mostly teasing. Mostly. The next few months didn't bother him, but after that… going home…? How were they ever going to balance work and family? It wasn't as if they'd done such a great job the last couple of years with Jason… he supposed they could have done worse… they'd made it to football games at least…

Ianto pulled Jack's hand to his lips, brushing his partner's knuckles with a kiss. "I love you."

"I love you too." He decided that he would worry about home when they got there.

Jack laid back in the bed and closed his eyes a moment, resting. Breathing. In a few minutes a nurse would come… take them back through sterilization… he would put on the surgical gown… Ianto would exchange his jeans and t-shirt for a 'clean suit'… a sterile jumpsuit. He'd have to wear a mask again… Jack would probably tease him about wanting to play doctor, just like before…

_I'll turn my head and cough for you anytime…_ Jack smiled. Ianto had nearly smacked him after he'd said that.

His free hand wandered towards his midsection… his smiled deepened when he felt Seren moving. "Looks like somebody's anxious to get this over with," he told his partner.

Ianto leaned in close… he kissed Jack's lips. His stomach.

Their daughter.

He laid his head gently against his partner's body while they waited, savouring the moment… the closeness he felt to Jack as the older man held him tight.

He had no idea that in the same moment Jack's mind had wandered towards things he'd spend a lifetime… multiple lifetimes… trying to forget.

Jack held on tighter to the young man lying next to him, but it was a futile effort.

Another time. Another place. Eighty years in the future.

Two thousand years in his personal past.

Jason.

Roan had been no less supportive during the pregnancy. No less wonderful. The man that Jack had been hadn't appreciated it. He swallowed, remembering the two of them heading into the small operating room. Roan was so nervous, just like Ianto was now.

He was sure he had been cavalier about the whole process, anxious to get it over with. Get his figure back… his life. He'd moved into Roan's house during the last couple of months of the pregnancy. He was anxious to move back out again.

Not that he had to, he was on an approved medical leave from the Agency, he had two months… but he didn't want to take them. He loved his job.

Still, Roan had done so much for him, the least he could do was give him something in return…

He kept his eyes closed as they moved him into the surgical bay. He listened to Basha explaining the procedure to Ianto. He was glad he'd made friends… Basha… Suki and her partners, Karen and Jaeka. It was good for Yan to have someone besides him to talk to.

"How are you holding up?" Ianto whispered into his ear.

Jack opened his eyes and looked into those blue grey eyes of his partner's. He smiled. "Perfect."

The younger man smiled back at him. He took Jack's hand. It would take less time to perform the caesarean section and remove the womb than it had taken to implant it.

Jack gave his partner's hand a squeeze. "We're almost parents."

"We've been parents, Cariad. We just haven't got the chance to get to know her yet."

_So young and so wise, _he mused… "I love you."

"I love you, too."

It seemed like it was hardly more than a few minutes later when both men heard the healthy wail of their daughter.

"She has your lungs," Ianto teased; he felt the tears welling up behind his eyes but he couldn't decide if he should hold them in or just let go and cry.

"Mr. Jones… would you like to cut the umbilical cord?" Basha asked him softly.

"Could I… I mean…" it seemed like such an antiquated custom… it probably wasn't even necessary. Everything in the room was lasers this and sonic that.

She smiled and guided him around the screen, "Fair warning…" she began.

He nodded, understanding. A caesarean section wasn't a pleasant sight even with fiftieth century technology. He could handle the blood… he didn't see much past the squirming infant in the nurse's hands anyway.

"I'm not sure I can do this…" he said suddenly, aware that his hands were shaking. It didn't help that Basha had handed him an old fashioned looking pair of scissors.

"Yes you can," came Jack's words of encouragement.

He took a breath to steady himself… _my God, she's beautiful,_ he thought, looking at the wriggling, unhappy little girl.

As soon as he snipped the cord a doctor flashed a laser across the cord, evaporating it almost completely… _fiftieth century technology at its best,_ he mused softly. None of it made Seren any the happier.

The nurses finished drying her off and wrapped her in a soft blanket before handing her over… she stopped fussing the instant she was settled into Ianto's arms.

In that moment his whole world stopped. The universe shrank. There was just her… this tiny… vulnerable… beautiful little thing. He glanced at Jack and smiled. Together they had made his child...

"Looks like somebody knows who her father is," Basha's soft voice pulled him further back up into the larger world around him. Ianto swallowed, but he couldn't speak. It didn't matter. "Maybe you'd like to introduce her to her other father," she suggested.

He nodded… Jack… those gorgeous blue eyes and that smile that started in his eyes and worked its way all the way down to his mouth… Ianto found his voice in his partner's smile. "I'd like you to meet your daughter, Cariad. Seren, this is your Papa," he used the name Jason used without thinking about it. "I'm sure he's going to cause you as much grief as he causes me, but trust me, he's worth it," he smiled down at his Captain.

Jack returned his smile, but for a moment he found himself lost in memory again…

"_I'd like you to meet your son. Jason, this is your Papa…" _

_He placed the squirming baby on his chest and Jack met his gaze… those beautiful green eyes… the eyes of a man who would forgive him anything, love him no matter what he did... and for one instant he felt what he knew Roan had always felt when he looked at him… _

_Something so true and so deep that there weren't words enough to describe it and yet in its simplicity one word, love, summed it up so eloquently, so perfectly… there was a connection between them… it was real. For both of them... for the first time Jack felt it too._

Jack bit back tears… the past… the present… in that moment, seeing his son for the first time, he'd felt something for his partner… felt like they _were_ partners… they'd accomplished something so profound, so beautiful. So amazing.

"_I love you," Roan told him; his tone held a confidence it so rarely held when said the words. He knew his partner was feeling the same thing he was, he could see it in his eyes. In that moment everything felt __**so **__right. It felt the way it was meant to be. The way he'd always known it would be… "I have loved you for __**so**__ long," his voice was filled with raw emotion… longing. They could be so good together._

_All Jack had to do was say the words._

_He let them die in his throat. He flashed a smile, one of his cocky little half-grins. "We do good work, huh?" he asked in a cavalier tone._

_He ignored the look of hurt on Roan's face._

He looked up at the young Welshman who was smiling at him now… that same sort of smile Roan had given him. The same loving… longing… expression in his eyes. The same promise… they could be so good together. "I love you, Ianto Jones Harkness," he could barely speak; he held Seren carefully with one hand and with the other reached up to bring his husband into a deep kiss. "I love you _**so**_ much."

Seren fussed.

They both laughed.

"I love you too," Jack assured her.

"We both do."

Jack looked at his partner a long, long moment… maybe in a lifetime as long as his was destined to be he would have a thousand partners… a hundred thousand… but in that moment, he couldn't imagine anyone he would love as much as he loved his Welshman. He wondered if that was unrealistic… he supposed it was… _but I love you so much. _

He leant in and laid a soft kiss on Seren's forehead. There was no one else he had been with that he would have had another child with, but he was glad he had her.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen: Post Partum **

* * *

_Man's feelings are always purest and most glowing in the hour of meeting and of farewell._  
~Jean Paul Richter

* * *

"I think she has your eyes," Ianto commented softly. It was hard to see much in the dark, but Seren definitely seemed to have big bright blue eyes. Of course a lot of babies were born with blue eyes… but he was sure she would have her Papa's eyes even when she got older. He said as much aloud.

"Yeah," Jack agreed, "I think you're right." They were sitting up in bed, propped against the pillows that were plumped up between their backs and headboard.

Jack leant his head on the younger man's shoulder. He was holding the bottle for the child cradled in Ianto's arms… he had never shared moments like this with Roan. Jason.

He hadn't even shared moments like this with Laura, although her Victorian sensibilities were probably as much to blame as anything else, he reckoned. She hadn't been nearly as uptight as many of her contemporaries (and Jack could attest to first hand knowledge that the Victorians weren't half as straight laced as it seemed they'd wanted to appear), but there were certain things she never would have tolerated and her husband hovering over while she breast fed was high up on the list.

Jack snuggled in closer glad to be out of that era. Glad to be here and not caring where 'here' happened to be just so long as it was with the young man he was laying next to. "She has your nose, I think," he said to his partner. "Your chin, too. Probably just as well. This chin wouldn't look very good on a girl," he grinned.

He smiled; he leant over and kissed his partner's clef chin. "It could be worse."

"I thought you liked my chin!" Jack cried out with feigned hurt.

Ianto laughed, which make Seren fuss. "I love your chin, Cariad," he said in a gentle tone, so as not to upset her any more. "I'm just not sure it would look at all right on a girl."

Jack closed his eyes; it was three o'clock in the morning. They were both tired, but he had been more tired than usual since coming home from the clinic. As soon as he felt her stop drinking, he eased the empty bottle away from Seren. She was already half asleep as well.

Ianto remembered to grab a cloth before lifting their daughter to his shoulder this time.

Jack flashed a rueful grin, remembering that last time Ianto had burped her; he'd forgotten, or maybe hadn't thought he needed, the cloth to protect his shoulder. The younger man had ended up with regurgitated formula all down his back.

"That wasn't funny," the other said, fully understanding his partner's laugh.

"Yes it was," he eased himself out of bed and took the bottle into the kitchen. He'd only been home a week and even with his propensity to heal quickly, he was still a little tender around the middle. He wondered if he'd have a scar… if he did, it would be minimal. If he was really that uncomfortable having it, he knew there was always that cosmetic surgeon Bobby said he knew… although it would certainly be interesting to explain.

He smiled to himself as he came back into the bedroom. Ianto was just getting their daughter settled back down, hopefully for the rest of the night. So far, she was as punctual as her Tad. She fussed every three hours, looking for food. A diaper change. Lots of cuddles from both of her fathers.

Jack slipped up behind the younger man and wrapped his arms around his waist. "Happy?" he asked. He leant over, tucking the blanket more snugly around his daughter. She was so incredibly beautiful… They were going to be in so much trouble when she got older.

"Happier than I've ever been," Ianto's voice was soft in the dark.

Jack's smile deepened. "We are pretty good together, aren't we?" his tone was so sincere…

The younger man turned in his arms. Jack's expression was difficult to read. He'd been odd the last couple of days. It wasn't bad… Ianto attributed it to the hormones, mostly. He still had a few more weeks of taking them, weaning his body back to its normal levels. Basha had warned him to expect continued moodiness in the older man, but he couldn't help but wonder if there wasn't something more to Jack's moods than could be attributed to his hormone levels.

He brushed his lips against his partner's mouth, savouring the softness of his Captain's kiss. "Very good together, I think," he replied. He didn't at all mind this version of Jack… sentimental. Soft. He really seemed to need him. "You… balance me out." Ianto told him.

Jack laughed. "I think most people would say that's the other way around, Sweetheart."

"It's true, though," he pulled his partner back into bed, arranging them so Jack was curled up against him. "I can be so… steady. I like to play things safe… it's true," he said to the incredulous look that crossed the older man's face. "I haven't always had the luxury, but it _is_ my preference, Cariad," he brushed a stray bit of hair off Jack's forehead. "But when I'm with you, I have the courage to do things that I never would have dreamed I could do. You make me… whole. I never even knew I wasn't whole until I met you."

"What if I hadn't come back?"

"What?"

"What if… if I hadn't… figured it out… what if I hadn't come back to you?"

Ianto hid his frown as best as he could. "I would have muddled through, I suppose," he shifted a little, getting more comfortable. "I probably would have slept with Aaron… ten minutes of my life I would never have gotten back."

Jack chuckled at the tone in his voice. He pressed on, however. "I'm serious," he said.

"So am I. I was only seeing him because I was lonely."

"Yan…"

"What is it? What's really bothering you?"

"I… nothing. Just… this time. It's too close to my own time… I remember some of the things I did here. There. Eighty years from now." He shrugged. "I'm not proud of who I was."

"I know. But that was a long time ago. The man you are today is somebody you can be proud of. You're somebody _**I'm**_ proud of. The past doesn't matter."

"Doesn't it? Someday the Time Agency will catch up with me…"

"And when they do, we'll deal with it. Together."

He looked up at the younger man who was holding onto him. He could have sworn it was usually him being the so-called 'strong one', doling out reassurances whenever Ianto needed them… but somewhere along the line he really had come to rely on his young Welshman as much as he was sure Ianto relied on him.

"We're good together," the younger man said again, seeming to understand the look on his partner's face.

Jack nodded and curled tighter into his chest… it was probably just the hormonal imbalance making him feel so emotionally out of it lately. By the time they got back home, he knew he would be fine. Whatever happened, they'd deal with it together.

……………………………………………………………..

"I can't believe how big she's gotten!" Suki cried, lifting Seren from the blanket on the floor. "Are you sure she's only three months old?" she cast an accusatory look at the baby's fathers.

Ianto chuckled, serving the coffee to their guests. "Yes, quite, thank you."

"We're going to miss you so much," said Suki, then. She laid Seren back down so she could take her cup.

"You mean you're going to miss his coffee," Jaeka teased her, setting their five month old son, Ryan, down on the blanket next to Seren; he was getting to be quite a handful so all three of Ryan's parents took up spots on the living room floor so they could corral him if need be.

Jack grinned at Jaeka's comment. "The coffee is why I married him."

"I thought it was the suit!"

"I'm allowed to change my mind."

Ianto rolled his eyes and settled onto the floor with the other adults and the two children. "We're going to miss you too," he said.

The Doctor would be arriving to take them home tomorrow, nearly one year to the day from when he'd dropped them off… looking at the trio sitting around the blanket, drinking his coffee… laughing at one of Jack's silly jokes… he felt like he was finally comfortable and now it was time to leave…

Jack laid a hand on his leg and Ianto laid his on top of it, twining his fingers into his partner's.

"At least say you'll come back and visit us some time," Jaeka pleaded.

"If we're ever in the neighbourhood, I promise, we'll look you up," Jack answered for them.

Ianto was just as glad. He could feel his throat closing up a bit again. It had been so long since he'd had friends that weren't co-workers… _still, who else would understand my life? _

By this time tomorrow, they would be home.


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N:**

**Lady Mist: **

**Aaron Anderson… **in… **A New Day**, I think it was. Jack asks Ianto who was the last person he 'saw'. Answer: while Jack was off with the Doctor, old beau Aaron Anderson popped into Ianto's life and they went out for drinks and movie a couple of times. When Jack returned, Ianto broke it off. Even though he wasn't sure he was ready to forgive Jack, he knew where his heart really was. I mentioned Aaron in passing once before as well… an old friend who worked in middle management in some department store or another and thought his life was quite nice… it reminded Ianto of just how not-normal his own life was.

* * *

**It was recently brought to my attention that the website AfterElton dot com is doing a "best of" poll (it's actually really cool, the awards recognize gay/lesbian/bisexual visibility in the media, both in news and fiction)… **

**John Barrowman, Jack Harkness and Torchwood are in several of the categories.  
Anyone can vote (whether you're registerd to the site or not)  
**

**Here's the website… (don't forget to remove the spaces)**

http : / / www . afterelton . com / people / 2008 / 12 / visibilityawardfinalvoting

Votes have to be in by the 14th.

**and as a favour… unless you already have a favourite "best book" (the very last category), an old friend of mine, Frank Polito, is the author of a FANTASTIC book called Band Fags that's on the list… **

**Band Fags** is set in the mid 80's and deals with a young man and his best friend, both band students, coming to grips with homosexuality in a conservative blue collar suburb of Detroit aptly nicknamed Hazel-tucky by it's residents. I couldn't be more thrilled that **Band Fags** made the list.

* * *

**Chapter Fifteen: Home Coming **

* * *

_Home is a name, a word, it is a strong one; stronger than magician ever spoke, or spirit ever answered to, in the strongest conjuration._

~Charles Dickens

* * *

Ianto was taken completely by surprise when the Doctor accepted Jack's offer to hold Seren. While the young Welshman anticipated that most of their friends would want to hold her when they got home (_God the thought of Mickey holding a baby was frightening)_, he hadn't imagined the Time Lord as the type of man who would fuss over a baby, even Jack's. He had expected the Doctor to coo over her a bit. Everybody cooed over babies, after all. But his expression… that twinkle in those ancient eyes of his… _could the Doctor have been a father himself?_ he wondered.

The look on the Time Lord's face when he took her from her Papa's arms… the warmth of his smile… the look in his brown eyes when she smiled up at him certainly suggested that he had.

Ianto realized it wasn't outside of the realm of possibility of course, he just couldn't imagine him standing still long enough to have a wife…or husband… or whatever they did on his home planet. One thing the past year had taught him was not to make assumptions.

The Doctor's voice cut through his musings. "She is _absolutely_ beautiful," he said.

Ianto made a mental note to ask Jack if the Doctor had ever had children…

Just then, Seren reached up and made a grab for the Doctor's nose… Ianto cringed, but the Doctor merely laughed, surprising him further by nuzzling at her, laughing all the more when she gave him a delighted little squeal. "Oh you are going to be a handful someday," he said to her before handing her back to her Papa. "She has your eyes, Captain. Your smile too, if I'm not mistaken."

Jack smirked, "Don't I know it." He cradled his daughter in one arm, snagging Ianto's waist with the other. "Let's hope she has her Tad's good sense," he raised his eyebrows at his partner.

"I don't suppose you know any convent planets we could send her to…?" Ianto quipped in retort.

"There's always the Sisters of Plenitude," mused the Doctor. "No… on second thought… maybe not," he shook his head, smiling at some private thought. "Well. Ready to go home, gentlemen?" he asked. He'd landed the TARDIS in the same spot he had to drop them off and walked to their apartment.

Jack glanced over at his husband, giving him a questioning look; Ianto nodded. He was as ready as he was going to be.

* * *

The Welshman couldn't help a small bit of trepidation as he stepped through the TARDIS doors once more. Jack had handed Seren off to him so he could carry their gear across the park.

The younger man wasn't sure how, exactly, but Seren seemed to have acquired a duffle bag all her own that was nearly as large as Jack's. It was mind-boggling to both fathers that someone so tiny and so young could need so much stuff. It wasn't as if she didn't have a wardrobe full of clothing and other necessities waiting for her back home. But Ianto didn't want to leave behind the things she was used to. He was quite certain the trip would be traumatic enough on her as it was, with a whole new world of sights and sounds and smells to get used to.

Jack kept saying he was being silly, but acquiesced without much of a fuss anyway. They weren't taking anything that would raise too many eyebrows back home.

The Captain set their bags out of the way and joined his partner by the TARDIS console. "Nothing like the first time, huh?" he wrapped his arms securely around the younger man's waist pressing his lips to the back of his neck.

Ianto leaned into the kiss.

"All right, you two, if you're going to start in with that, you know where your room is…" he gave Jack a look.

"I was just…" he began defensively. His hands were only on Ianto's waist. Sure there was that kiss, but it was just a kiss…

"That's all it takes with you," said the Doctor.

His Welshman snickered. "He is right, you know, Cariad."

"Traitor," Jack grumbled at him, grinning all the while. It only made Ianto laugh harder.

He pulled the young man closer to him as the TARDIS doors swung shut. He knew Ianto was a bit unnerved being there again. He supposed it was his own fault for telling the younger man about all the misadventures he'd had the year he spent travelling with Rose and the Doctor… he'd meant for the stories to help Ianto understand how happy he was on earth… with him… but it hadn't taken much for the Welshman to glean that the TARDIS had a mind all her own and sometimes she went where _she_ wanted to, regardless of the wishes of her passengers.

Ianto leaned back a little further into him, snuggling Seren against his chest. She seemed completely content, oblivious to being a ship as fantastic as the Doctor's TARDIS.

Jack laid his chin on the younger man's shoulder. "Love you," he whispered, stealing a quick kiss to the young man's neck when the Doctor wasn't looking.

It made Ianto snicker. "I love you too," he said. He gave the Time Lord a glance, hoping desperately that the trip home would be as smooth as their last trip had been.

"No worries," the Doctor assured him. "I'll have you home before you can blink… although mind you, Praxinnia Seven is lovely this time of year… we could go for a couple of days and still be home just when I promised. That's the beauty of time travel, you know," he favoured them with a sly grin. "We could arrive before we left… although that would lead to all sorts of difficult explanations," he winked. "What do you say, though? A quick holiday before heading back to Cardiff?"

He cast a questioning look at Jack and Ianto. "I wouldn't even mind doing a bit of baby sitting while you two go off and see the sights… although somebody might have to refresh my memory on a few little details…" he suddenly remembered that he had no idea how to change a diaper… still, it couldn't be that difficult. He was well over nine hundred years old. If he could pilot at TARDIS single headedly a diaper couldn't be that much of a challenge… could it?

"Home sounds better, if you don't mind," said Ianto, casting a sidelong glance back at his partner. He smiled. It didn't look at all like he was the only one who preferred the notion of going home to some exotic holiday with the Doctor.

"Maybe some other time," Jack added.

"You're welcome to stay for a few days," the younger man said. "I'm sure Jack would love the chance to catch up with you."

The Time Lord nodded, neither accepting nor rejecting (or even seeming to really take note of) the offer as he was already busy punching in coordinates. "Oh," he said almost as an after thought, after pressing a button to start the dematerialization. "There's been a slight change in plan…"

Jack gave him a sharp look.

"I stopped in to check on that team of yours last week…well, you know, last week for them…"

"Doctor…" Jack's tone was ripe with suspicion.

He chuckled. "Now, now, Captain. I knew you'd be fretting over what they might have gotten themselves into in your absence. They're fine by the way… although that girl Abby has a mean left hook. I made the mistake of surprising her alone in the Hub," he explained, rubbing his chin in memory. He hadn't expected to find anyone in the five o'clock in the morning; the lights had been off, in fact. He'd figured it was just him and the pterodactyl until Ms Scuito came around the corner in her night cap and flannel dressing gown. "She was quite apologetic, though, once she realized I was me," he went on, giving the console a tap with the mallet he kept hanging from a toggle for just that purpose muttering something unintelligible as he did.

Both men chuckled.

"Mind you," he went on, "If she ever decides she wants to see the rest of the Universe…"

"I don't think so," Jack cut him off. "Now… you were saying something about a change in plan?" he asked, trying to get the Doctor back on track. The thought of Abby taking off with the him, even if Tim went with her, was truly frightening. Abby was as prone to getting side tracked as the Time Lord… a quick glance in his partner's direction confirmed that Ianto was having much the same thought.

"Hmm? Oh, yes, right, quite," the Doctor fussed with the instrument panel another moment before finally getting around to explaining. "Gwen asked if I would do her a little favour is all."

Ianto just barely stifled his groan.

"Nothing major," the Doctor assured them. "Just… there we are…" he said with a wide grin as the TARDIS began to materialize. "A slight change in location is all… oh and we're about a week later than anticipated. I gather your family has been told some story or another," he added in Ianto's direction as he pressed a button and the TARDIS doors swung open. "Gwen said she would take care of everything." He was grinning a grin worthy of a Cheshire Cat.

Jack and Ianto exchanged brief glances before the Captain decided to step out first since he was the one who couldn't die. Not that he actually expected that the Doctor would have landed them anywhere dangerous or anything…

"**SURPRISE!"**

"Welcome home, Jack! Ianto!" Gwen squealed, sweeping the Captain up into a hug before he'd gotten both feet out of the TARDIS.

He recovered enough to get himself past her so Ianto could squeeze out.

When he saw the sheer number of people crammed into their living room, he was half tempted to ask the Time Lord if they could relocate the party to his place... He didn't have a chance to suggest it, however, because in that moment he spied Jason bolting down the steps. Jack caught him before he hit the landing and pulled him into his arms in a fierce hug.

Within in seconds of emerging from the Police Box (sitting in the middle of his living room with the drapes wide open), Ianto lost Seren… first to Gwen… then Tim and Abby had to have a coo at her… after that it was Sara Jane Smith…it seemed as if everybody they knew was crammed into his lounge.

After Tegan took Seren from Sara Jane, Ianto completely lost track of his own child, never mind that his husband seemed to have vanished as well.

Sara Sidle pressed a cup of hot orange jasmine tea into his hands. "Personally I hate big, noisy parties," she said with a sympathetic smile.

Ianto returned it. "Me too. Guess we'll have to endure together. Thanks," he nodded at the cup she'd handed him, silently grateful for one quiet, steady person. Even Tim, who was usually very quiet and very steady, seemed to have gotten caught up in the mayhem. The pile of gifts over by the fireplace didn't escape his notice either. The only thing was, they didn't _need _anything and everybody knew that… before they left, Ianto had even made Jack install child safety latches on all the cupboards.

"So how was the fiftieth century?" Sara inquired quietly.

"Overwhelming. Not quite as overwhelming as this, mind," he glanced at the room over the top of his cup. "Have you seen…?"

"He's in the kitchen," she answered the question before he could finish it. "Having a father / son moment with Jason."

"Ah. Well. I suppose I can endure a bit longer without disturbing him."

"Just wait until they drag out the baby shower games." Her tone wasn't encouraging.

"Oh dear."

Sara chuckled, "I could manufacture a Weevil emergency…?"

The thought of Weevil hunting with Jack made him smile… then he caught sight of Seren again, as Liz Shaw handed her off to Wendy and he smiled a very different sort of smile. He turned back to Sara, "I think I can manage a few baby shower games. After all, if you want to get technical Jack is the 'mother'."

Sara's soft chuckle turned into a merry giggle at the thought…


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N:**

**Thank you again for all the lovely reviews, favourite/alert listings!  
**I would have had this up yesterday, but have you ever had one of those days where every ten minutes SOMEBODY needs you for something? ;-)

* * *

**Chapter Sixteen: Home Sweet… **

* * *

_When you look at your life,  
the greatest happinesses are family happinesses._  
~Joyce Brothers

* * *

"Papa! I want to see the baby!" Jason protested into his father's ear as Jack carried him into the kitchen.

"I know… just give me a minute, ok? Then we'll go say hello to your little sister."

Reluctantly Jason nodded into his shoulder, silently taking note of that word 'sister'. He liked the idea of being a big brother, but he _had_ been hoping for a little brother. Before they left, Papa and Tad hadn't made up their minds yet.

Jack set him onto one of the chairs. He stepped back, still holding onto his son's hands and looked at him… really looked at him. Those bright blue eyes full of mischief just like his own. Dark, tussled hair. His other father's nose… his own chin… and if his mother hadn't brought her old photo album, Jack would never have remembered what his son had looked like as a baby.

When he and Roan brought him home, he stuck around just long enough to recover from the caesarean section and _only_ because Roan insisted on taking care of him while he convalesced. It wasn't a lengthy process… he might have stayed a little longer than was necessary because it was nice to have somebody looking after him.

Not that he had appreciated it, he knew that much of himself. But he remembered, in a vague and hazy sort of way, Roan making him chicken and dumplings and bringing him hot tea in bed. Fussing over him. Bringing him books to read.

In a week, maybe two, Jack got restless. He packed his bags, moved back to his own place. Went back to work.

Went back to John's bed. Others' beds. He remembered John accusing him of binging on sex, as if he had room to talk. _**He**_ was the one who had ended up in rehab over his destructive tendencies. Jack knew how to keep himself in check… or at the very least not raise any red flags with his behaviour at the Agency.

In hindsight, however, he wondered if he had realized that when he walked out on Roan, he was running away from what should have been some of the best moments of his life. He wondered if he'd given even a single thought to what he was missing out on.

Jason's first steps. His first words.

Roan had kept him updated, of course, and he thought he might have made it to one of his son's birthdays, he just didn't remember which one. He remembered his mother giving him the icy, silent treatment the whole time, though. She didn't speak to him much in those days… sometimes he still thought she was only tolerating now him for Jason's sake. They got along, but he seemed to remember that she'd been a lot warmer towards him once upon a time, a very long time ago… he wondered if he would ever get that back.

"Papa?" his son asked in a soft tone. "Is something the matter?"

Jack pulled him into another fierce hug. "I just… I missed you, is all."

Jason hugged him back. Being a child of the fifty first century, he understood time travel – or at least he liked to think he did. He knew all about how some people lived on different personal time lines and how even though it had only been a couple of weeks for him, Papa and Tad had _really_ been gone for a whole year. Papa couldn't very well walk around the twenty first century pregnant, after all. Men didn't do that yet.

"I know it was just a couple of weeks for you…" Jack murmured, cupping the back of his son's head and hanging on as tight.

"I missed you anyway," Jason told him. "I thought about you every day and tried to figure out how much time was really passing for you. I think I figured it out," he added, pointing to the calendar he'd made up and stuck to the refrigerator. It had the days marked off on both their timelines, two weeks for him, one whole year for his Papa and Tad.

Jack smiled and pressed a firm kiss onto his son's forehead. "I love you so much."

"I love you too," he held on just as tightly as he could, causing his father to completely lose his battle with the tears that had been welling up for some long moments.

Jack only barely took note of the hand on his shoulder; he recognized his mother's touch.

She'd seen him slip out of the crowded living room and had come to see if everything was all right… she'd let him know, privately so as not to upset his partner, that she had just as many concerns over their decision to have a baby as Ianto's mother did. Maybe more. Her reasons were entirely different, of course.

It was Jack and Ianto's work. She'd seen her son's husband come home with serious injuries on more than one occasion. A child should have at least one parent with a stable, _safe_ job.

There was also Jack's track record with fatherhood. It had been one thing for her son to not want to be Roan's husband, but to walk out on his own son…? What did that say about his ability to be a father to this new baby? She wondered if he really wanted this child because he wanted it, or if he was doing what he'd done with Roan, giving in to something out of some sense of obligation or maybe guilt. Whatever the reason, she knew he'd never really wanted Jason.

She resented her son for that, for the way he so easily walked away from the people who loved him. For how easily he had started over again. No matter how much time had passed for Jack, it wasn't fair to Jason for him to have started a new family as if his old family had never even existed. She wasn't sure it was fair of her son to be adding to that family now that Jason was a part of his life again.

She still harboured a mixed set of feelings towards Ianto. He wasn't a child, he'd proven that. He was a good man. He was considerate. Compassionate. Loyal. Well grounded. He reminded her so much of Jason's other father sometimes that she wondered what Jack saw in one that he had missed in the other.

She hoped that Jack was as good for him as Ianto had obviously been for Jack.

"Your guests are starting to look for you," she said soft tone.

Jack nodded. "I just… needed a minute," he said, knowing that didn't really explain anything.

She smiled anyway. "Sometimes you don't realize what you're going to miss until it isn't there for a while."

"I know I haven't always been the best person, Mom…"

Ella cut him off with a shake of her head. "Just be a good person now."

………………………………………………………………….

"All right, all right, let's do this properly," the Doctor lifted Seren away from Gwen, who had somehow managed to get in a second turn at holding her. He returned the child to her Tad. "Where's Jack?" he asked the young Welshman quietly, glancing around but finding the Captain nowhere in sight.

"I'll get him," said Sara (American Sara as some of the others were calling her, to clearly distinguish her from Sarah Jane, not that the Doctor had any trouble distinguishing the two, even in conversation.)

She slipped into the kitchen… "Jack?" she hated to interrupt the scene she found… father and son… son and mother… "Sorry," she flashed a shy smile. "But they're looking for you."

The Captain nodded, wiping the last of the moisture from his cheeks, not that he thought anyone would begrudge him a few tears. He cleared his throat, to try and loosen up the lump that had settled there and hoisted his son up to his hip. "Ready to meet your little sister?" he asked.

"How come you had to go and have a girl, anyway?"

Jack couldn't help but laugh at his son's disgruntled tone. "We already have one boy… it's only fair to your Gramma to even the numbers out a little…"

"Oh, you Leave me out of this, Jack," she said, although clearly she was only teasing at him.

He shot her a wink and ventured into the living room where everyone seemed to be enjoying one another's company. How exactly they were all cramming in there, especially with the TARDIS dead in the middle of the room was a mystery, but no one seemed to mind the cramped quarters.

He settled in next to his partner draping his free arm around the younger man's shoulders; Ianto had finally managed to get Seren back. He looked all the happier for it, too. "Sorry about that," Jack apologized for leaving him to fend for himself.

"No worries, Cariad," he assured him.

Just then an sudden ear splitting whistle pieced through the room, silencing conversation. "Thank you," the Doctor looked rather pleased with himself for getting them all to quiet down. He gave a nod in Jack and Ianto's direction.

The young Welshman felt suddenly uncomfortable with all eyes on him. He really wasn't very good at public speaking, even if the 'public' were really his closest friends. "Well," he fidgeted, clearing his throat. "First… Ella, I… we…" he glanced at his partner; Jack smiled, blue eyes twinkling, brimming over with emotion and tears. He felt himself relaxing. "We'd like to introduce you to your granddaughter, Seren Toshiko Jones Harkness," he said the name loudly enough for everyone to hear her full name. He noticed the way Gwen's breath hitched and smiled at her briefly, but quickly turned his attention to Jack's son. "I know you really wanted a little brother…"

Jason shrugged. "I guess a sister's ok too. Can I hold her, now?"

"Why don't you give Gramma a chance first," Jack suggested, even as Ianto was handing Seren over to her.

Ella took the baby from him with a wan smile… she hadn't been entirely certain how she was going to feel about her new grand child. She'd dodged her turn at holding Seren twice already, saying that she would have all the time in the world with her, best let all of the boys' friends have their chance first…

Looking down at her now, Ella's smile warmed and she realized she had been silly to think she wouldn't love her every bit as much as she loved Jason... "What a long way you've come, just to come home," she crooned softly. She turned her smile up at her son. Maybe he _was _ready for this. Maybe there was something about Ianto that she hadn't discovered, something that made Jack happy.

Or maybe the something was in Jack… Maybe it had been there all along, or maybe it was something that had happened after he left… she supposed it didn't really matter. She favoured her son in law with an equally warm smile. "Now let's hope she's more of your temperament than his," she winked.

Ianto chuckled, pulling in closer to his Captain. "He's not all bad, you know."

Ella made a point of refraining from commenting… she motioned Jason to the sofa where they could sit down so he could hold his little sister...

Wendy slid in next to Jack and Ianto, wrapping her arms around the latter's waist. "She is beautiful, Yan," she nodded towards Seren.

Bobby was standing just behind her. "Congratulations, guys," he said simply.

Martha was in next to congratulate them… them Gwen and Rhys… One by one, two by two, they came over to welcome Jack and Ianto home personally, to congratulate them on their daughter.

At length, Jack felt the Doctor's hand on his shoulders, "Quite the family you've got here, Captain," he said over his shoulder.

"They're as much mine as they are yours, you know," he replied. Tegan and Johnny. Sarah Jane. Victoria. Martha. Liz. He only wished that Rose were here, too… Donna…

The Doctor seemed to understand. He raised his glass to Jack's, "To absent friends."

"Absent friends," Jack agreed.

……………………………………………………………..

By the time Jack had gotten the last of their guests out the door – and the Doctor had finally moved his TARDIS to the back garden – Ianto was passed out cold on the sofa, his stocking feet sticking out from underneath the throw Jack had covered him with. Jason was in bed… Ella had retired for the night as well. Jack was noticing that more and more she was going to bed earlier… dating just slightly less… getting older.

Just as Jack was settling in next to his partner to wake him and drag him off to bed himself, he heard Seren fussing over the baby monitor Ianto had insisted they keep downstairs with them after she went to bed.

"I've got her," the Doctor told him before he could get up.

"You sure?"

He laughed, "I think I can manage."

"Thanks," Jack slid back down next to his partner. He laid a hand on his shoulder and gave him a gentle nudge. "Sweetheart… everybody's gone…"

Ianto stirred. "Hummm?"

"Come on. It's late, let's get to bed."

Coming to wakefulness Ianto realized he could hear their daughter…

"The Doctor's got her. Come on. Let me take you to bed."

"I can…" he started to get up, despite the protests of every exhausted muscle in his body.

"I think he wanted to, Sweetheart." It hadn't escaped his notice that the Doctor seemed terribly fond of Seren.

He knew that the Doctor had practically raised his granddaughter, that she'd travelled with him. He never said what had happened to her parents and Jack never asked. He promised to look in on her when the time came. The Doctor had left her on earth after the Dalek invasion of the 22nd century; he hadn't seen her since.

Still groggy, Ianto looked up as the Time Lord came down the stair carrying very fussy little girl. "Hungry, I think," he told the fathers with a smile. "Nothing I can't handle, honest," he added.

Reluctantly Ianto nodded; even after his nap, he was exhausted from the party. He let Jack haul him to his feet and pull him upstairs…

"I'll get you tucked in and then go check in them," Jack promised. Then he pressed his lips to his partner's mouth. "Welcome home, by the way."

The Welshman smiled at him, "It's good to be back. Don't stay up too late…?" he asked.

His answer was a long, sensual kiss…


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter Seventeen: Cardiff**

* * *

_A man travels the world in search of what he needs and returns home to find it._  
George Edward Moore

* * *

It felt strange driving through Cardiff with Jack again after been away for so long. Cardiff itself looked just exactly the way Ianto remembered it; after all, _it_ had only aged a fortnight. He and Jack were the ones who were older… he hadn't considered until that moment that come his next birthday (just a month away), he was going to be 27, but he would only be celebrating 26 years on earth… then again, he would only have been on _earth_ for 26 years. He supposed the technicality made him feel a bit better about lying about his age; people who lied about their age struck him as vain and vain wasn't something Ianto believed himself to be. At the very least, it wasn't something he wanted to be… the desire to look good wasn't the same thing as being vain. He was sure of that.

He wondered absently if Jack ever felt odd about celebrating the wrong number of years with each birthday, especially the birthdays they celebrated with Ianto's family. _Then again how on earth would we fit 2000 candles on a cake…? _he mused, glancing over at the man sitting next to him, driving as usual – but differently than usual, mindful of Jason and Seren in the back. Using the turn signal, taking corners at a reasonable speed… not that Jack was reckless, per se. As far as Ianto knew, he'd never been in an accident. Still his driving could be a bit frightening at times. But not today.

Ianto watched the city go by taking it all in, all of the little details it seemed like he was seeing for the first time…

Jack reached over and took the his; he smiled. It felt strange to be driving through the streets of Cardiff again, but it felt good. Anything done with Jack felt good.

_You make me so happy,_ he thought in the older man's direction. "I love you," he said aloud in a soft tone.

The words brought a smile to his Captain's. "I love you too." He brushed his lips against his partner's knuckles; a driver in another car glanced over, looked briefly startled and then went back to minding her own business.

"I'd almost forgotten the funny looks we sometimes get," the Welshman commented. He'd gotten used to being able to walk down the street without garnering any particular attention at all. Three thousand years into the future, they were just another family walking in the park.

"I think they're just jealous," Jack replied. "After all, I'm out here with the handsomest guy around."

Ianto chuckled. "Somehow I doubt that's the real reason, Cariad."

"What…? You don't think they're staring at me, do you?" he teased. "I mean, I know I'm gorgeous…"

He just shook his head. "I really do love you, Jack."

"Glad to hear it," he grinned as they rounded the corner to his mother in law's house. He felt Ianto tense up when they caught sight of Cade's truck in her drive. He gave his partner's hand a tight squeeze.

Ianto forced a smile. The plan _had_ been to let his mother, sister and niece meet Seren first, then the rest of the family later… but that had been when the plan was for them to return home _last_ week. He stifled a sigh, telling himself that sooner was probably better where his family was concerned, anyway.

As soon as Jack pulled up, Remi can running out of the house. She dashed as fast as her legs would carry her all the way to the curb, then skittered to a stop, carefully looked both ways before barrelling across the street and slamming into Ianto full force. "Uncle Ianto! Uncle Jack!" She gave the former a hug as the latter was getting the baby out of the back seat. "Is that her? Can I see her?" she tried desperately to peer over Jack's arms. "Please!?"

Chuckling, Ianto hoisted his niece up into his arms so she could see… and so she would calm down.

"She doesn't look foreign!" she cried; then looked mortified. Clearly she hadn't been supposed to say that… "Hi Jason," Remi added in a subdued tone, almost as an afterthought – or possibly to cover up her faux pas.

Jason took it in stride (even though it frustrated her that they couldn't just tell people the truth.) "Hi, Rem," he smiled up at his cousin. "This is Seren. And no, she _doesn't _look foreign."

Jack shot him a look, but Jason stood his ground. Even if he couldn't tell people the truth, he could at least stick up for his sister's looks. Not that he had any idea what they were all expecting her to look like, anyway. Even if she were foreign, it wasn't like she was an alien or something.

"She's so tiny," Remi said then.

"Babies usually are," Ianto told her.

"I was _never_ that small."

Jack tried to hide his chuckle. Seren fussed briefly as he lifted the carrier off its base and brought her out into the bright Cardiff sun. He made a soft crooning noise at her and she quieted back down again. Ianto only hoped her fussing wasn't a sign of the way the rest of the afternoon was going to go…

"Stop it," Jack told him in a surprisingly stern tone (surprising to Ianto, anyway. Jason gave him a look, too.)

"What?" the Welshman blinked.

"You're fretting. Now stop." Jack encircled his partner's waist with his free arm and drew him across the street.

"I can't help it," he said, "I'm nervous."

"How come?" Remi wanted to know.

"How come he's fretting or how come he can't stop?" Jack interjected before the younger man could answer.

"You're not helping – either of you," he looked from the man holding onto him to the child he was carrying and then back again. Jack was helping the least. He also seemed to be enjoying himself. _At my bloody expense… _

The Captain flashed another bright smile, "What's the worst that can happen, Sweetheart?"

Ianto groaned.

"Now you've gone and jinxed it," Remi informed him.

Jason blinked up at her, "Jinxed what?"

"Whenever someone says 'what's the worst it can get', something bad always happens."

"That doesn't make any sense!"

"Tell me about it," Jack shot his son a wink. They'd arrived at the front door; Alice was there to greet them, wearing an expression very much like the one she had the first time Jack had met her. He began to wonder if Ianto was right to be worried about how things were going to go…


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N:** all right, so this contains slight spoilers to my own story **Blood Moon Rising**…

* * *

**Chapter Eighteen: Family **

* * *

_The family. We were a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another's desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together._

~Erma Bombeck

* * *

Ianto felt a flash of deja vu as he stepped into his mother's living room. Cade was sitting in the exact same spot as he had been the first time the younger man had brought his partner home to meet his family… Dafydd, too. He was sitting on the sofa staring out the window, looking about as cheerful as he had two years ago… had it really only been two years? Ianto wondered… closer to two and a half maybe. That made it three and a half for him… his personal timeline. He never imagined that _he_ would have a personal timeline different than anybody else's. The furthest he'd ever been from home before he met Jack was a weekend campin in Brittany.

Gavin at least was standing in a different spot and instead of looking up wearing an uncertain expression, he smiled as Ianto and Jack came in the door, with children in tow.

Trea and Deidre came out of the kitchen as soon as they heard the door open, too. Nerys came from upstairs.

Gavin got to them first, holding out his hand to Jack in a welcoming handshake. "Good to see you again, mate," his smile was nothing short of warm. He waited until Ianto had set Remi down before giving his younger brother a hug. "You too, Yan. How was…?" He left it open ended. They hadn't been terribly specific about where they were going to adopt, just that it was overseas, Eastern Europe somewhere (which wasn't really over seas at all, but it was certainly foreign.)

"It's good to be home," Ianto answered simply.

"Well let's see the baby then!" Trea moved to her husband's side, peering into the carrier. "Ooohhh, she _is_ a doll! May I? Jack? Ianto?" she all but pleaded to hold their daughter.

"Let me just get her out of there for you," said Ianto. "The latch is a bit tricky." He could feel Cade's glare. His mother's frown. The former wasn't unexpected… he just wanted his mother to be happy for them.

"I think I can manage a baby carrier, Ianto," her tone was patronizing, but her expression took the sting out of it.

"No… really…" he began, but before he could say more, she had the buckle unsnapped and had hoisted Seren into her arms. Ianto didn't bothering looking at Jack; he knew he would be giving him _that_ look, the one that said he was fretting and he'd better stop it soon.

He felt Jack's hand on his and twined his fingers into his partner's. He smiled despite the pterodactyls in the pit of his stomach. The smile deepened when as he watched Trea with Seren. She was holding her and crooning over her the same way she had crooned over Deidre's children… over Remi. Deidre and Nerys was hovering over her, too, marvelling at how adorable she was, how she almost looked like Jack and Ianto… he flashed a nervous smile at his sister. She knew.

She was the only one and only because he had to have someone to talk to. That had been his and Jack's agreement. He needed one friend outside of Torchwood and Nerys had already met Myfanwy… they'd always been close… He found himself suddenly missing Suki, Karen and Jaeka, even though they'd had to keep secrets from them, too.

_But at least we didn't have to pretend that she wasn't really ours… _Seren fussed a moment… found him in the crowd… she looked right at him… Ianto smiled. She seemed to settle down once she realized both he and her Papa weren't very far away.

Just then, Ianto's mother slid her hand into his and pulled him gently away from his partner and into the dining room.

He swallowed nervously, wondering what she wanted. He kept expecting her to say that he looked older, to notice that something was amiss. That he was different somehow.

It was silly really, but when he was younger – so much younger – she used to tell him every year on his birthday how much older he looked than he had the day before. He knew of course that mothers said things like that (it was on the mental list of things he was never going to do to Seren), but it didn't make him any less nervous about standing in his mother's dining room one year older than he'd been when she saw him last, just a two weeks ago.

Alice cleared her throat softly; she didn't quite meet her son's gaze. Her expression was difficult to read.

"Mam?" he asked.

"I know," she glanced quickly out into the living room, but they hadn't been missed yet. "I know Jack isn't what anyone would call a religious man," she kept her voice low so as not to be heard over the fuss everyone was starting to make over the baby. Or at least the girls were fussing over her; the men seemed content to let them.

Ianto let out the breath he'd been holding and nodded to acknowledge the truth of his mother's statement. Jack was disinclined towards any sort of religious notions at all, but he was very good about keeping his opinions to himself. It was Jack's mother who had caused the ruckus the first time she'd met Ianto's mother…

"I understand to each their own and all that," Alice went on, still looking uncomfortable. "But I do hope you're going to… do the right things. By the church. And by your daughter, because you'd be doing it for her, not me or anybody else. That is the whole reason you went and adopted some foreign baby… to give her the advantages she wouldn't have gotten…"

He frowned, not understanding what she was getting at.

"I just meant to say that I hope you're going to have her baptized," she finally came out and said it. A little too loudly.

The chatter stopped.

"Mam, you promised," Nerys began. "You said you wouldn't get into it…"

"I said I wouldn't make a fuss, not that I wouldn't ask," she answered, just a little too defensively. Clearly this was a discussion that had caused some tension between mother and daughter. "I haven't _fussed_. I just _**asked**_. But since you're accusing me, I may as well say for the record that she should be baptized like all good Christian children, no matter _what _sort of family she was actually born into. She's ours now, after all."

Although Alice didn't miss the pained look on Ianto's face, she didn't understand it. She tried to give him an encouraging smile…

"Good Christians?" It was too much for Cade to be able to keep his mouth shut. "They're bloody queers! Where are you going to find a priest willing to baptize…?"

"Can't you leave it for one minute, Cade!" Deidre snapped angrily; then she ran out of the room, choking back sobs.

No one moved for several long moments… Cade's face twisted up in rage. As he found his feet, both Gavin and Ianto both intercepted to keep him from going after her in the state was in; he looked ready to kill somebody.

He pushed them both off only to find Jack standing in his way.

"Don't get in the middle o' this _'Captain'_," he made the title sound like a bad word. He glared hard at his brothers. By then even Dafydd had gotten to his feet, although generally being the youngest and smallest, he was the least likely to get involved when Cade's temper flared.

Cade returned his gaze to Jack, who still hadn't moved out of his way. Ianto's 'husband' was the only man in the room as big as Cade; he'd taken on Gavin before and had no doubts he could take on Gavin and Ianto together now, not that he expected the younger of the two would actually get into it with him.

Dafydd wasn't even a consideration. The boy spooked at his own shadow.

Jack was another matter, however, and even angry Cade realized it. Despite his repeated jabs at the American's masculinity (or lack thereof) he knew a fighting stance when he saw it. There was something about Jack that suggested he could probably take him on… probably would too, if pushed too hard.

"Why don't you take a few minutes to cool down," Jack suggested in a rational tone of voice that infuriated the other man.

"This isn't any of your business," Cade growled in return. (Even having a modicum of rationality about the situation, he wasn't about to lose face to a faggot… or whatever Jack was. What did 'omnisexual' mean, anyway?)

During the initial exchange, both Alice and Trea, who was still holding Seren, had exited the room. The former went to find Deidre and try to calm her down. The latter was outside with the children, keeping them occupied so they wouldn't go inside and see what was happening…

Cade stepped closer to Jack, chest first, getting himself directly into the other man's face. "I said 'get out of my way'. This is between _**family**_."

"He _**is**_ family," Gavin told his brother.

"Just because some damned bureaucrat decided to recognize two men as husband wife doesn't mean the rest of us…"

Jack was the only one who saw Ianto's jaw clench. The younger man had taken about as much as he was able to and he knew it. He took half a step back from Cade. "Maybe we should go and let you guys sort this out," he said, mostly in Gavin's direction.

"You're a part of this family, Jack," he repeated.

"Fricking pansy…" muttered the elder Jones half under his breath. "Probably just afraid of a good clean fight…"

Ianto's fist across his jaw came as a complete surprise to everyone except Jack or Nerys (who had crammed herself into a corner as far out of the way as possible).

Cade stumbled back two steps with the force of the punch. He would have fallen if Gavin hadn't caught him.

They both stared at their younger brother, although Cade's expression was the one of sheer disbelief.

Gavin's face betrayed little more than smug satisfaction. He'd never seen anyone throw a punch so hard before and of all people, Ianto was the one man he knew who had never raised a hand to anyone over anything (at least not that any of them were aware of or that they would have believed if anyone had ever said as much.) Even when Yan had rushed to Nerys' defence against JP, he'd only won the so-called fight because JP was a drunk idiot who'd tripped over his own two feet and smacked his face against the pavement. Or so the story had gone…

"Enough," Ianto told Cade a frosty tone. "Enough about me, enough about Jack, enough about _us._" He was shaking with barely contained rage; he hadn't held back when he'd hit his brother. It was little wonder he hadn't broken Cade's jaw. "If you don't like what I am or think it's wrong or whatever your fucking problem is, fine, I don't give a shit. But I'm just sick to death of hearing about it. I don't need your approval. I never have. I never will." He stalked out the front door.

Jack glanced at Dafydd just long enough to ensure he was all right. The youngest Jones would probably never fully recover from the experiences from last year, but other than seeming a bit shaken, he looked all right despite Ianto's outburst. A quick nod in Nerys' direction brought her to the Dafydd's side. It wasn't the first time Jack was glad Nerys knew more than the rest of Ianto's family.

Cade was just starting to gather up his wits when Jack left to go find his partner.


	19. Chapter 19

* * *

**Chapter Nineteen: Brothers and Sisters**

* * *

I don't believe an accident of birth makes people sisters or brothers. It makes them siblings, gives them mutuality of parentage. Sisterhood and brotherhood is a condition people have to work at.

~Maya Angelou

* * *

Jack didn't have to look far to find his husband. Ianto was sitting on the front stoop of his mother's house, shaking. The Captain sat down next to him and gathered him into his arms, holding him tight.

"We should go," the young Welshman murmured at length. "Mam will probably never let me back in her house again…"

"I think even she'll agree he's had that coming a long time, Sweetheart."

He shook his head, loosing his battle against hot angry tears. "You don't understand. When Cade… that time he hit me… the one time she knew about…"

"He…" _he hit you more than once…? _but Ianto shook his head again, a clear sign that he didn't want to get into it. So Jack shut his mouth and listened instead of asking questions he knew he wouldn't like the answers to anyway.

"When I was seventeen… I told you…"

"He broke your nose."

Ianto had walked out of the house after coming out to his parents. They hadn't actually chucked him out on his ear, but they had made their position clear. He could do whatever he wanted to do when he was off on his own but as long as he lived under their roof, he would 'straighten up.' He'd ended up riding around on the bus all day… then he met Wendy and she took him in. Fed him bologna sandwiches. Told him he could stay.

When Ianto came home to collect some of his things, Cade punched him so hard he broke Ianto's nose.

"Mam took his side, Cariad," he said, miserably.

"That was a long time ago."

"Please… just get Seren and Jason and meet me in the car. Please, Jack," he begged when his partner didn't move right away. "I just want to go home."

"All right. But just so you know…"

"Don't," Ianto cut him off; he knew what Jack was about to say. "I'm not proud of what I just did. I just couldn't take it any more and I know from experience that there is only one way to stop someone like Cade. I wasn't even thinking, I just… reacted," he shrugged, not meeting the other's gaze. He hated it that he'd so completely lost control and lashed out like that.

Jack reached over and took his chin gently, forcing Ianto to look at him. "You reacted the only way you could. You said it yourself, there's only one way to stop someone like that. You did what you had to."

"They were just _words,_ Jack. Words can't hurt anyone…"

"Like Hell they can't! Abuse is abuse. I'll get the kids," he said then, before Ianto could argue with him. He stood and hauled the younger man to his feet, then he leant in and pressed his lips to his Welshman's mouth. He was still shaking, but he returned the kiss as ardently as ever. "I won't be long," Jack promised when they parted. He heading towards the back garden.

Ianto turned towards the street, but the sound of the door opening made him turn around… if it was Cade…. He swallowed hard when he saw his mother. He might almost have rather it been his older brother come to have another go at him.

"You're leaving?" Alice's tone was cool. Dry. Her expression equally so.

He didn't meet her gaze. He couldn't. "I think it's best, Mam."

"Why don't you stay." It wasn't a question.

"I… we…" he shook his head. He just wanted to go home.

"I think there's something you should know about your brother… not that I expect it to excuse anything."

Ianto frowned, but when his mother sat down on the step and motioned for him to follow suit, he did.

"Something happened a few weeks ago… I don't know… maybe I should have mentioned it sooner, at least to you. You of all people might understand… I suppose that's what I was afraid of, really. Some things a mother doesn't want to know about."

"What's going on?" he asked. Despite the tumult of unpleasant emotions, there was something in her expression that stopped him from trying to run away.

"Apparently…" she cleared her throat, looking increasingly uncomfortable. "I guess… Dillon," (Cade and Deidre's seven year old son), "found a magazine in Kae's bed a few weeks ago and brought it to Deidre. He'd found it tucked up under Kae's mattress like he was hiding it." Her tone and expression told Ianto the sort of magazine they were talking about.

But Kae was thirteen years old, so Ianto didn't understand the problem. "I assume you mean a… you know… nude…" he found himself suddenly uncomfortable as well, to be discussing anything involving nudity with his mother. "I should think like father like son," he finally managed, although he supposed he hadn't meant to sound quite so harsh. It wasn't as if he and Gavin had never looked at lingerie ads when they were that age. "I just meant to say that it's perfectly natural for a boy his age…" Deidre should know that.

"It wasn't a girly magazine, Yan. Or… that is to say, it wasn't filled _with_ girls, it was _for_ girls. Women. You know. It had pictures of… men. Nude men." She blushed a deep shade of crimson.

Ianto couldn't quite process the information… Kae was as bigoted as his father… wasn't he? _Or was he just confused and trying to sort through his own thoughts while emulating the only male role models he has…? _Deidre's family were just as narrow minded as Cade when it came to any one who wasn't working, middle class, white, heterosexual and British.

"That doesn't excuse what Cade said to you," Alice went on, quickly. "I just… I hope you can at least understand."

"That Cade probably blames me and Jack? Yeah, I understand that."

"Ianto…"

He shook his head. It would at least explain why the last time they'd all been over for dinner, Cade had nearly taken his son's ear off dragging him away from he and Jack. "I hope _you_ realize it's not contagious."

"Ifan!"

"Sorry. I'm just angry."

"You've every right to be," she surprised him by saying. "I just wanted you to understand why he is the way he is…"

"It wasn't just today, Mam. I've been putting with… with his… shit," he paused but said the word anyway, "all my life. I don't think I will ever understand why or what I ever did to him."

She heaved a sigh, but nodded. "I won't choose one of my sons over the other."

He looked away a moment, but refrained from reminding her that at one time she had. Jack was right, it was a long time ago and he had done little to make his mother's life any easier back then. He reached over and took her hand; she held onto him tightly. "I'll come back by tomorrow with the baby… I promise."

"You can stay…"

"No, I can't…"

The door opened again; it was Jack with the kids. Ianto leant in and kissed his mother's cheek. "If… if Deidre wants to talk… what you told me… she's welcome to call or… whatever she's comfortable with. I don't actually know that talking will help…"

"I'll let her know."

Ianto stood and helped her to her feet. "I… I'm sorry for losing my temper."

She waved it aside and leant over to Jack instead, giving his cheek a quick peck. "We'll see you again soon…?"

"Count on it," he promised her.

* * *

**A/N:**

Well, gang, I think this officially wraps this one up... hope you enjoyed... thanks again for all the reviews and comments. They are always much appreciated.


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